Chapter 1: Playeater Slime

Mini was a common ailment thanks to the ever present curses of dark magic. Wandering stray monsters possessed the ability to cast this ghastly curse. Beginner magicians could learn this spell after some training and practice. Even dungeon traps could be engraved with a magic circle to ensnare thieves. For some length of time, anybody inflicted by this ailment would become tiny. Only the lucky few whose magic resistance was high or those who were prepared enough to bring along a panacea were able to avoid being inflicted by this ever-presence curse. 

Even so, that luck could only carry an adventurer so far. Magic resistance could reduce the duration and intensity of the curse but it could not nullify it entirely, and panaceas for magical ailments such as Mini were costly and difficult to come by. Adventurers and travelers alike were at risk whenever they were cursed with Mini, but unlike poison and petrification, it was at least one that could wear off. Due to this property of the curse, it wasn’t uncommon to see someone afflicted with Mini waiting for it to subside. Whether or not their sudden loss of physical ability allowed that was another question entirely.

Luck was not one of Alain’s strong points unfortunately. It never was. That day, the powerful drifter and his mount were the unlucky duo to fall victim to the bad status of Mini in the woods on the outskirts of Medari.

“Blasted! To think we’d run into a Playeater Slime. This was not a good start to our day, Gale,” the Dragon Rider groaned as he and the green scaled dragon he rode on evaded a translucent, blue tentacle. The pair looped around a large rock to escape the numerous viscous appendages aimed at them. They narrowly escaped as a thick tentacle descending on them.

“Fu~... Fu~!”

A loud noise that resembled chuckling sounded from above. Alain glared upwards as he and Gale zig zagged through tall grass many times their height. He could see a feminine face and body gazing down at them with amusement.

Playeater Slimes were, as their name indicated, playful eaters. They enjoyed toying with their prey by cursing them with status ailments. Mid-level monsters, they normally weren’t a threat to a highly experienced Dragon Rider like Alain, but being ambushed and cursed had affected their performance.

“Gale, hard left!” he warned his mount as he pulled her reins and directed her to turn as quickly as possible to evade the titanic slime’s hand slamming down in front of them. At their current height of six elven centimeters, her hand hitting the ground felt stronger than a Black Mage’s Last Meteor spell. Even though they had avoided being crushed by the heavy, adhesive pillar of slime, the wind force caused by the impact blew the flying dragon rider and his mount off course. They rolled through the air, launched and battered by the blast.

“Ewooo!” Gale wailed as she tumbled through tall grass stalk after tall grass stalk. 

“Grk! Come on! Come on! Come on!” Alain hung on for dear life. He struggled to pull the reins and correct the two of them. It was only just before they were about to hit the ground that Gale was able to free her wings. “Got it!”

Immediately after uprighting themselves, the duo maintained momentum and attempted to speed away from the threat that loomed over them. They snaked through the tall grass and kept low, evading stones larger than castles and broken branches thicker than fallen trees.

The perilous flight at the Emerald Dragon’s top speed meant nothing to the Playeater Slime, however. The female oozy creature looked down upon them without needing to move the gelatinous base her torso protruded out of. Merely by leaning forward with her hands on the ground, she blocked off their upwards escape route. Her entire body covered ground beneath her in shadow and her breasts, large from mimicking a rather impressive human Dancer, pushed aside the grass.

The Dragon Rider they were not getting anywhere. He could tell that the sky that was the Playeater Slime’s body was not getting further away. Gale’s top speed had been reduced in scale along with her size, and the earlier battering from the wind had injured her shoulder. Escape was impossible from the human-sized slime when they were nothing more than bite-sized morsels to her. He supposed that was to be expected from a creature known as a Playeater Slime. She wanted to fool around with them before eating them.

“Well, at least I can’t complain about such a beautiful sight behind us,” Alain reached behind his back for his sword which was still within its sheathe. If there wasn’t any chance to escape until the curse wore off, they were going to have to deal with the giant monster. “Gale, can I count on you to hold on? This is going to hurt both of us.”

“Ewoowoo!” the Emerald Dragon breathed an equally green fire in reply.

“Then let’s do this,” the Dragon Rider concentrated his energy. Lightning arced from his hands. Magic power flowed through him and into his mount.  With an electrical force, he charged the two of them up. If they were going to attack, they would need every advantage they could muster. “As fast as crimson lightning! Haste!”

To make up for their decreased speed, magic was necessary. As soon as Alain’s spell took effect,  Alain and Gale changed their path. They spun around and shot directly upwards, evading a droplets of slime as large as their two bodies combined as they ascended up towards the female monster.

“Fu?!” the slime girl had blinked and missed the pair’s sudden burst of speed. One moment, they were frantically and helplessly trying to move an insignificant distance from her. The next, they were mere centimeters away from her face.

“Didn’t think we were fast enough, did you?” Alain boasted in front of the slime’s nose. Though he was aware he had weak magic resistance, he was proud of his proficiency with spells. Speed was all Dragons Riders were about and his affinity with Haste proved that but multiplying his and Gale’s agility twenty-fold.

The slime girl attempted to swat them away with her viscid hand, but like any speedy insect, Alain and Gale darted away from the monolithic palm before it could hit them. They rapidly descended and darted past the Playeater Slime’s head. Their target was simple: the red orb of a core that they could clearly see inside her bosom. 

“Alright, Gale. Let’s drill straight through!” the rider declared with his sword drawn. He charged his magic into his weapon until red lightning sparked from its tip. He and his dragon began to spin rapidly. The man thrust his blade forward while the Emerald Dragon began to breathe her flames. Their burning and shocking drill shot upwards towards the slime’s chest.

Victory was assured. They navigated their way between the slime girl’s monolithic mammaries without being pressed between them or stuck to her slime body. Their twin attack was set to pierce through.

“Fuaaa~hn!”

However, their attack never hit. Slimes were fluid creatures. Even with their increased speed, the Playeater Slime could twist and shift her body however she pleased in an instant. It didn’t help that, being she was as many times faster as she was larger. Before they could even touch the slime’s ‘skin’, she had retreated her body back to her main base and then reemerged. Instead of her core, they were now shooting straight towards her open mouth.

“Blasted Sli-!” Alain realized too late as the slime girl’s mouth closed, immediately flooding the two of them in her viscous blue fluid.

The Playeater Slime had an advantage the entire time she was toying with them. Try as they might, this particular Playeater Slime enjoyed using Mini to catch her prey. Though they were far less filling while small, her natural tendencies as a Playeater Slime prioritized the fun of taunting her prey before she ate them. She had been well aware of the speed difference between herself and the Dragon Rider which was why she had used her strongest curse in the ambush to render all of that useless.

Gulp!

And now with his final attack a failure, the slime girl had chosen to finally partake in her meal. She relished snuffing out the hope of her prey at the last possible moment. She could feel him flail helplessly along with his dragon as she forcibly pushed them down her throat. Unable to move in her gelatinous body that now completely surrounded and overwhelmed them, they would soon run out of air.

Satisfied with her success, the slime straightened up and turned so she could head deeper into the woods in search of other prey. The Mini’d Dragon Rider and his mount would not return to normal size if they perished.

Bzzt!

“Fuu...fu?” the slime felt a tingle through her body.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

“Fuu fu fu?!” the tingle grew even stronger. It felt painful to the viscous creature.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

“F-Fuuuuuuu!” the slime screamed as red lightning surged through her body and, more importantly, her core. Her ability to mimic the human form weakened immediately. Her mostly solid slime body dripped and dripped and dripped down to the ground.

Down below, where the stomach of her humanoid form was, the little Dragon Rider was holding his sword and enveloping it with lightning magic. The electric current easily surged through the slime’s liquid body, charging and shocking every bit of her. Despite being small, his magic power still greatly affected her due to the sensitive of her core from the inside.

Thud!

“Fu…...” the slime girl fell to the ground and splattered onto the forest floor. Her body was unable to lift itself up. This was of great help to the shrunken rider and dragon as her falling roughly had launched them out of her translucent body. Though the sticky traces of slime plastered them to the truck of a tree, they had escaped the belly of the Playeater Slime.

“Checkmate, you blasted slime,” Alain declared while exhausted. He spat out as much slime as he could from his mouth and struggled to catch his breath. His mount did the same.

This had been the Dragon Rider’s plan all around. Though he was aware that the lightning would hurt both him and Gale, it was the best solution that came to his mind in defeating the Playeater Slime. He had hoped Gale would endure it, and indeed she did.

“Ewoo! Ewooo!” the shrunken dragon used her flame to dry off and burn away the slime that covered her. When she was freed, she started to do the same to her master as well.

It pained Alain to know he wasn’t able to finish the slime. He could only immobilize it temporarily with their combined efforts. This was just how weakened they were thanks to the high-tier Mini curse the Playeater Slime had put on them.

“We’re going to have to let the local adventurer’s guild know that these Slimes are getting stronger than they should,” Alain frowned as he climbed onto Gale. With Haste still active, the two of them flew over the body fairly quickly, but it still gave the Playeater Slime enough time to look up and see their insect-sized bodies flee from her. She struggled to form a hand to catch them, but they moved out of the way.

It would still be some time before Mini would wear off, so the dragon and rider combo were still in danger. They were going to have to push themselves to get far enough away from the Playeater Slime before it could reform. They would then have to conceal themselves in safety until the curse faded away.

“Bear with it, girl,” Alain sympathized with his partner whose wings were noticeably exhausted as their flight level fell down beneath the grass. They passed a mushroom that towered over Alain’s 6 elven centimeter body and fought to not breathe the spores as they fled.

For a powerful monster like an Emerald Dragon and her master to nearly be beaten by a mere slime, Mini was a dangerous affliction. And this was simply just an ordinary morning on their travels across the land. After living with his poor luck for so long, the Dragon Rider had grown strong not through battles against great warriors but from ordinary encounters made intense thanks to the bad status effect.

And it would only continue.

Even a chronic victim of bad status ailments such as the wanderer Alain and his Emerald Dragon knew such an investment, while worthwhile, was a pipe dream. There were many times they wished it wasn’t, however.

Such days included that day when the travelling Dragon Rider was flying over Solvan Archipelago on their way to the mainland to bring back what they had gathered for a request.

“Not good, Gale. The mist is too thick. I can’t even tell which way is north. We should land as soon as we can.”

“Woo! Ewoo! Ewooo!” agreed the young green scaled dragon.

“The problem is, I can’t exactly see any land. Blasted. Well, if this isn’t a load of Armorbeast dung. Maybe we shouldn’t have taken so much time gathering extra Suntree Fruits.”

Even ascending high above the sea, they were unable to see anything but fog. They had thought taking flight early that morning would make it easier for them to make it back before mid-day, but getting lost while unable to find the correct direction to head had made that impossible. If they didn’t break out of the mist soon, they would be exhausted and sitting ducks in the open ocean.

Of course, that wasn’t the unlucky duo’s only problem.

“Aaaaa~~!” a harmonious sound entered Alain’s ear. Though it was a pleasant, rhythmic melody, it immediately put the Dragon Rider on edge. 

“A siren? Blasted! Where is it?” he looked left, right, up, and down for the sight of a feathered creature. He bit his lip to force his body to remain under his control. Sirens were known to lure unsuspecting travellers to their graves if they heard their songs. Even Gale would be in danger upon hearing their singing, so he had to deal with them immediately. Whatever type they were, all sirens had powerful arias that no being capable of listening could fight.

Unfortunately, the siren was nowhere in sight. The fog was still too thick. Up in the air with no landmarks of visible shadows through the mist, Alain and Gale continued to hear the elegant magic melody of the monster despite their best efforts to block it out.

“Gale, we need to dive now while we still can,” the rider gave up searching and took up his Plan B. If he couldn’t defeat the siren, they had to get away from hearing its song. They could only endure so much before the enchanted aria cursed them. 

“Ewoo!” agreed the Emerald Dragon as she swooped downwards. She was also struggling to fight the hypnotic power of the siren’s song.

Down the flying duo went. With their speed, they would get down to the water’s surface within a minute. Certainly, the siren couldn’t be that close to them.

That was what Alain had thought, but as they descended, the singing they could hear was getting louder and louder. It was a simple and distant humming at first but it quickly became ordinary singing and then as loud as a bard’s carols and then as deafening as a thousand cannons firing at once.

“Gah! This song is…” the Dragon Rider realized too late as he and his mount’s descent grew past five minutes. They were not getting any closer to the water because distances had changed. 

A Minimizing Melody, that was what they had fallen victim to. If there was any overpowering skill monsters could possess, this was one of them. It was just their luck to get caught up in it. 

They finally entered a cloudless region where they could see land below. Or rather, the ground had come to them. “Land? No… That’s… Gale! Up! Up!”

It was nearly too late for the Emerald Dragon to pull up. The two had to make an emergency crash landing because their momentum was too great. They couldn’t reverse direction in time. The dragon rider’s mount slammed into the peach colored ground, and the rider himself was flung off and rolled several body lengths away from Gale.

“Oof… Urk… My arm…,” he winced. It felt as though a few bones had broken from the bad landing. He was going to have to find and pay a capable healer when they arrived at a town. He was less concerned about his own injuries however as he stumbled back to his fallen partner. “Gale! Hold on.”

To his dismay, he could see the Emerald Dragon’s wing was limp. This was bad. If his mount was injured, there was no way they would be able to get back to civilization. The seas below were harsh and very few ships travelled the archipelago.

What was worse to the dragon rider, however, was their present location. He could see a small dip in the ground near where they had landed and flat plains for a fair distance until those plains suddenly became two hills. Unless he was mistaken, he could see a cross shaped pattern at the very top of those hills.

“Aaaaaa~” And beyond those hills, he could hear the powerful singing that had driven him and Gale into danger in the first place.

“T-This isn’t good,” Alain realized. They weren’t on land. That much was certain. They landed on on a monster’s belly. “We’re riding on the siren.”

Brought down to 2 cm in height. Alain and Gale were in between a rock and a hard place. If they attempted to escape from the siren, they would not get far on Gale’s injured wing and would likely just plummet straight down to their deaths. If they stayed with the siren, however, they would be up against a creature nearly 100 times their size. 

Slam!

“Urk!”

There was no time or chance for duo to make a decision on how to handle their predicament. Immediately after Alain had made the realization, a white feathered wing landed on top of them. The siren’s ‘hand’ pressed them down into her navel. Though she was not gentle, slamming it down hard on them, it was for the best because the avian monster spun in a full circle. The two felt their worlds flip upside-down and then turn right-side-up again. 

Flying with one wing was not something the siren could do, but she did not need to. She was headed downwards while protecting them from being blown off. Alain worried. What kind of siren was this? There were a handful of different sirens who were capable of using the Minimizing Melody. If this was a Man-Eater or Black Nightingale, they were in serious danger.

“U-Uwoah!” Alain wailed as he was released from the siren’s stomach when she slowed down, spun in the air, and finally let go of them. He found gravity pull him and his dragon downwards. They found themselves amidst a mountain of twigs the size of logs to them.

This was the siren’s nest, he realized. Looking up, she could see the humanoid avian smiling down at them. Now, he could see clearly just what had inflicted Mini on them.

What he saw could almost be considered angelic. The fair skinned avian’s white wings were only accented by a light blue at the very ends. Her body was humanoid and naked, although feathers covered her extremities and her chest. The cross shaped pattern there told him precisely just what kind of siren it was.

“That’s… a Nurse Siren?” 

“Aaaaaaa~~h!” a powerful voice escaped the creature’s mouth. For a moment, the dragon rider was on guard, but as his body was bathed in the Siren’s song, he found his injuries were healing.

“The Healing Hymn - so it really is a Nurse Siren,” a breath of relief escaped Alain.

Turning to his mount, Alain was glad to see the limp wing of his dragon had recovered as well. He was a little relieved. Nurse Sirens were known to be a gentle species of siren. They were proficient in all kinds of magical songs, but preferred tending to travelers rather than toying with them or preying on them.

“Thank you. We owe you one,” he told the winged girl.

But then why had this Nurse Siren shrunk them?

Sniff. Sniff.

“Uwoah!” The adventurer had to lean back to avoid being pulled off his feet when the Nurse Siren lowered her head and breathed in. At only 2 centimeters tall, just her nose sniffing him was enough to make him unsteady. He fell forwards, onto the Nurse Siren’s chin.

“Uuwoo…?” cooed the womanly bird. She extended her neck just slightly which slammed her chin right into his torso. The rider was knocked down onto her nest.

Looking up, Alain found himself looking up at pink lips, though not for long as those lips opened into a dark hole. “Huh? Wait. Hold on there!”

Lick!

The dragon rider could not defend against the pink wall and the slobber that came out of the Nurse Siren’s mouth. He was shoved onto the nest and pinned against her tongue. This was bad. Was the monster trying to eat him? He had to get his weapon or cast a spell. Unfortunately, the moment he opened his mouth, the siren’s saliva poured into it, preventing him from chanting, and because he was pinned down, he couldn’t move to draw his weapon. To be rendered so helpless even to a gentle Nurse Siren, being affected by Mini was terrible even to the most experienced adventurer.

But to his relief, licking him was all the Nurse Siren did. She tasted him but withdrew her tongue, shaking her head. Apparently, he didn’t taste good. He did not feel offended in the slightest. He wished more monsters hated the taste of humans.

“Ewoo! Woo!”

“Oh, no! Gale!” he heard the dragon’s cries as he saw the Nurse Siren change targets to his dragon. When he stood up, he saw he was too late, however. His mount was pulled up onto the avian girl’s tongue and pulled into her mouth. “Blasted… Let her go!”

Not taking any chances when his partner was in danger, Alain rushed forth, pulling out his sword and channelling his magic power. “Surge! Howl! Strike! Pierce my enemies with a crimson storm! Lightning Javelin!”

Lightning magic, his signature ability as a travelling dragon rider, was known for its fierce intensity and its ability to destroy any enemy with its scorching heat and stunning current. He aimed his attack at the giant siren’s cheek, sending a bolt of lightning from his sword forward. He was aware that he had been weakened heavily due to the negative status condition, but his magic was on a tier only behind professional mages.

Bzzzzzt!

“Uuuweeech!” the siren felt the bolt of lightning as though it had received a strong static shock. While he would have liked to stun the creature, that was an impossibility considering how weak his magic was in his current state. Still, in reaction, her mouth opened. Alain could see two things fly out - Gale and the cargo she had been carrying.

He was not concerned about the cargo. His dragon fell back down to the nest with her entire body coated in viscous saliva. Her wings were sticky as she tried to beat them to scatter the water clinging to her off. “Woo… Ewowoo...”

“Don’t worry, girl. I’ve got you,” the dragon rider reassured. He placed his hand on the dragon’s wing and channelled his magic power again. If it was water, he could handle it. “From sea to sky. Disperse Water!”

In an instant, the liquid surrounding him and Gale became vapor, freeing the Emerald Dragon who was happy to no longer be bogged down.

“Good. We’ll get you a nice bath later,” he jumped onto her back. He frowned, noticing the Suntree Fruits she had been carrying were all gone. However, from that knowledge, the dragon rider came to a realization. 

He turned around, just in time for the two of them to see a wall of flesh headed their way.

“Huh? Bla-”

Wham!

Before either he or his dragon had any time to react, they were run over by the siren’s breasts as she laid down on her stomach and pulled herself onto her nest. Her entire body pressed down on them. 

If it were not for the adventurer’s barrier magic, they would have been crushed flat.

“Uwoo!” The Nurse Siren was paying absolutely no attention to him. Just as he had thought, her attention was on the Suntree Fruits. The Nurse Siren was sniffing the damp bag and looked satisfied with herself. She didn’t eat it immediately - most likely, she was going to wait until Mini wore off so she could eat even more.

“That’s why we were attacked...” he grumbled, struggling to maintain the barrier. All around him was the color of the siren’s skin. Her body was threatening to break his magic defense which he poured every bit of his strength into. The little electricity running around his barrier did not seem to affect the Nurse Siren because it wasn’t as strong as his Lightning Javelin. “Blasted… Who knew Nurse Sirens liked those fruits? This was supposed to be a simple job too...”

Whatever the case, the fact that the siren paid no attention to them gave the duo the opportunity they needed. Gale spread her wings, ready to take flight. That was not all she did however. Her green wings began to glow, and with that bright light, the barrier surrounding them expanded.

“Didn’t think we’d have to use our reserves like this...,” Alain frowned. His dragon’s magic power was saved in case of an emergency. He never had to use it yet, even when going up against his rival. But this was certainly an appropriate time for it. He agreed with his mount that this was necessary. “Okay. I’ll focus on keeping the shield up. You fly us out of here, alright?”

“Ewoo!” affirmed the Emerald Dragon.

With that confirmation, Gale moved. She did not head forwards or upwards. No, to try and fight the massive weight of the Nurse Siren pushing down on them was impossible. Instead, she moved down, using the barrier to push away every single twig making the siren’s nest. Alain focused his magic as best as he could while the dragon began to spin, turning the electric barrier into a drill that shoved aside and tore through the log-sized twigs.

“C’mon… just a little more…,” Alain grunted, wincing due to the fact that he was nearing exhaustion from over expending his magic power. 

After digging a 5 cm diameter hole through the nest for several minutes, the duo finally breached through and saw light.

“Freedom!” “Ewoo! Woo!” they cheered.

Being able to escape the Nurse Siren, the adventurer and his tamed dragon were relieved to be out in the skies again. Though they were still small, they were at least out of the creature’s sight and away from her heavy body, and to their relief, they found themselves around land again because the siren’s nest had to be built somewhere that wasn’t in the sky. From what they could see from their miniscule scale, they were on an island. The Nurse Siren had made her home on the cliff by a beach.

“Alright… good...” wheezed the dragon rider. “Let’s get to a safe spot until this bad status wears off, Gale. Then we can go home. I don’t care if we fail that job request. I think we both need a rest.”

“Woo...” the Emerald Dragon agreed.

While it was a shame that such a simple job couldn’t be fulfilled, this was how terrible the Mini ailment was. To be able to turn the most docile of creatures into a threat and to exhaust even an experienced adventure such as him, the condition was nothing but trouble. 

Chapter 3: Beastkin Clerk (Feline-type) and Beastkin Apothecary (Mouse-Type)

One’s mission was not complete until one successfully returned home and turned in the mission report. Even in the safety of a small village, the dangers still threatened adventurers, so heading to the adventurer’s guild immediately after entering town was a natural routine for travellers. There, any and all accommodations and services were available for registered adventurers from appraisals to sales to lodging. The adventurer’s guild was a wanderer’s go to destination in every town which had a guild building.

For an experienced mercenary like the Dragon Rider Alain, heading to the guild was second nature after completing a request. How else would he earn a living while travelling the world like a vagabond? Caring for his beloved Emerald Dragon, Gale, was not cheap.

Unfortunately, as a constant victim of bad status effects, his mission was still incomplete despite having returned to the adventurer’s guild in the town of Ramil he had been using as his temporary base of operations for a month. His luck with Mini had gotten the best of him again.

The only thing he could be thankful for was that working for the Ramil guild was a beastkin duo of potion makers. They were acquainted with small sized customers enough that there was actually an entrance to their storefront that was connected to the guild building. 

“Mini’d again, you two?” asked the clerk of the Ly-Ro Potions, Lysa. Her feline-like ears twitched as she stared down at the man and dragon who landed atop her desk. “You’re pretty big actually. Usually you two end up a lot smaller.”

“We were able to get stronger protective enchantments on our equipment, but our magic resistance still leaves a lot to be desired,” sighed Alain who got off his mount. His one investment he had hoped would protect him and his mount against bad status ailments was costly, but it did raise their collective magic resistance enough to ensure them that Mini would not make them as small as bugs. It was just shame however, that their resistance was still abysmally pathetic.

Standing on the wooden desk being stared down upon by the cat-eyed beastkin girl was unnerving. He had been reduced to 15 elvish centimeters tall. Compared to the 170 cm lynx girl, he and Gale looked like dolls made for young children.

“Fufu~n~” giggled Lysa. Her short tail curled as she put her finger under Gale’s chin to gently pet the dragon like an ordinary house cat. “How’d it happen this time?”

“A magic trap in Noran Forest,” he sighed. “That blasted half-elf living there for research must have set them up.”

Magic traps had a fixed amount of magic power within them, so they weren’t supposed to be able to make people that small, but unfortunately, their low magic resistance and luck led to them being brought down to such a state.

“Miss Dialantha really hates visitors after all,” nodded Lysa as she brought out a transparent lens roughly 5 centimeters in diameter. She held it up to her eye as she looked at the dragon rider and his mount. “Hm… The Appraisal Glass says the effects will wear off in five more hours.”

“Five hours?” That was far too long.

His reaction made the cat-type girl smile. She placed both of her elbows onto the desk with a heavy thud from his perspective. Even Gale was perturbed by her sudden movement. “We could always get you the medicine. You would have to pay, though. One panacea is 20000 but with the guild discount, it’s 18000. Since it’s the two of you, that would cost 36000.”

“Even with the discount, that’s still too much.” Panaceas, unfortunately, were far beyond their spending capabilities.

Purrr…

Lysa’s smile continued to widen. She changed her seating position, putting both hands onto the desk and lowering her head, which was around twice Alain’s height, down to the table. Her feline eyes followed his every movement. “It’s your fault for dropping your guard that this keeps happening to you, Mister Alain~! I don’t mind. You’re cute when so small. you’re like a cute little mousey. It’s a shame you didn’t get smaller like you usually do.” 

Lysa was in a good mood. Instinctually, she was attracted to smaller creatures like a predator. Though she was civilized enough to know attacking customers was bad, she couldn’t resist talking down to Alain.

“I’d rather just wait for the effects to wear off then,” groaned the man as he turned to his mount. “Sorry, girl. We don’t exactly have that kind of money, so we’ll have to grin and bear it.”

“Ewoo...” the Emerald Dragon understood but was disappointed.

This meant, however, that they were going to have to find a safe place to stay while Mini was still in effect. Considering how hectic the adventurer’s guild and the pharmacy could be, he couldn’t just stay on the countertop.

“Urggh!” “W-Woo!”

The beastkin girl was not rough with them, as she cupped her hands around them to pick them up, however, she was not cautious. She lifted them up - straight into her chest.

“Well, let me take you to a more comfortable place to wait then, you two~!” the clerk giggled. She purposefully pressed them against her bosom. She could feel Alain’s hands and Gale’s claws gripping on her blouse. Mischievously, she chose to move with a spring in her step, causing her chest to bounce more exaggeratedly as she walked.

“W-Whoa! Miss Lysa… This is...” the dragon rider was flustered. There were a number of people within the guild who would envy his current position, and he would trade places with them immediately if he could. Though he was accustomed to sudden jerking motions while riding his mount, the weight of Lysa’s breasts slamming into them made both his and Gale’s stomachs churn.

“Is something wrong, Mister Alain~?” she pretended to ask naively. She wasn’t going to listen to any objections anyways. Bringing the dragon rider to the backroom of the store was the safest option for him and would keep him out of the way. 

Knock. Knock.

“Rona! Are you busy? We’ve got a Mini’d adventurer with us. Can you keep an eye on him until it wears off?”

Of course, leaving the adventurer alone with their stock of goods, medicines, and potion making equipment was not going to be a good idea. While Alain was a respectable individual who was trusted enough to not steal, even the happy-go-lucky Lysa wasn’t careless enough to leave him there just because he was small. 

“Eh? Just him put under a glass or something. I’m busy here.”

“Are you sure? It’s Mister Alain and his dragon! Weren’t you interested in him?”

“H-H-Hey! Please don’t that put it that way, Lysa! I was simply interested in why they were so susceptible to Mini. That was all!”

“Aw~ You’re so cute, Rona! I didn’t think mentioning his name was all it’d take to get you to put down your book.”

“Lysa, you cheeky kid...! I keep telling you to respect your elders!”

The conversation between the two owners of Ly-Ro Potions continued as Lysa released him and his dragon onto the table the feline beastkin’s partner was seated at. In the month he had stayed in Ramil, he had gotten acquainted with the other girl with animal features working at the guild shop. He wasn’t exactly happy Rona was interested in him and Gale for their lack of magic resistance, but he did feel safer around Rona than Lysa.

Though that was probably because of Rona’s height. The 33 cm mouse-type beastkin was a little genius and the actual potion maker of Ly-Ro. Considering the current effects on Mini on them, though, even the mouse woman clad in her handmade dress was over twice as tall as him.

“I’ll be tending to the store, okay? Take good care of him, Rona!” Lysa walked away, leaving Alain and Gale with the little apothecary.

“That Lysa… I swear…,” Rona shook her head as she approached the two of them.

Alain could see he was under waist high to the woman. He resembled a child in comparison to the mouse girl while Gale was more akin to a large dog. Considering Rona was the older of the two potion shop owners and actually 3 years his senior, it actually would be possible for other mouse-type beastkin to mistake him as her child if he actually possessed animal features.

“Well, welcome again, Alain,” Rona gave up on being frustrated and welcomed the man. She looked at him and the dragon over with her hand on her chin. “You two are certainly larger than usual. I suppose you paid an enchanter to strengthen your equipment?”

“It still wasn’t enough, sadly,” Alain nodded as the mouse girl squatted to get a better look at him. Even bending her knees, she was still taller than him. However, this was better than how it previous was when they were shrunken down to 5 elvish centimeters. 10 centimeters was the difference from being doll-sized to Rona and being child-sized.

“Well, you two at least made it here safely instead of getting crushed or swatted away,” she praised and turned to Gale. The Emerald Dragon was wary, especially when the mouse girl reached forward to pull her into a brief embrace. “You’re quite the impressive girl, Gale. You’ve done well to get all the way here safely at your size.”

“Woo~! Ewoo!” At first, the dragon struggled, but she couldn’t break out of the mouse beastkin’s grasp. When she realized this, she simply accepted this and let the mouse girl nuzzle her.

“Um… Miss Rona?” coughed the dragon rider for the sake of his mount. He called the potion maker’s attention.

“Huh? Oh my goodness, I’m sorry. I don’t usually get to handle dragons considering my size, so I couldn’t resist,” apologized the apothecary. “As an apology, I’ll ask Lysa to give you another discount.”

He appreciated being able to get things for cheaper. Unfortunately, he was aware it still wouldn’t be enough to get what he wanted. “I don’t suppose you can just give us a panacea instead of a discount, could you?”

“You do know how much those cost, Alain. I’m afraid I can’t do that unless you do something extra to compensate. And I’m not sure you’d be willing to do that for Lil’ Ol’ me,” was Rona’s answer. She turned back to the small dragon rider and poked him in the forehead like she would a child. To her surprise as well as his, he was pushed backwards. “Oops. My mistake. Mini reduces your physical ability far too much. I forgot you’re actually weaker than my six year old niece like this.”

Her comparison put their current size into perspective. Alain scowled.

“That blasted witch of a half-elf… I’ve half a mind to land through her roof for doing this to us,” he grumbled. “I’ll do what you want, Miss Rona. But please, give us the panacea.”

“Ah, so Dialantha’s the culprit this time. I was sure it’d be another monster,” chuckled the mouse girl as she stood up to her full height again. She was glad to hear the man’s approval for her deal. Her mouse tail curled around Alain for a moment before she turned around to go pick up the notebook she had been jotting her notes in earlier. “Okay, if you’re fine satisfying my curiosity, I’ll cure you afterwards.”

“What do we have to do? I’m not sure about the safety of testing your potions in this state.”

“Oh, it’s simple. I’d like you two to strip.”

Alain paused. So did his mount who understood the beastkin girl’s words. Gale mimicked her owner when the dragon rider stared incredulously up at the mouse woman. Was what Lysa trying to imply earlier correct?

“Excuse me, Miss Rona, could you repeat that again?”

This time, it was Rona’s turn to pause. It took her a moment to realize what she had even said. Her pale face turned red when she figured it out. “S-Sorry. I phrased that poorly. I meant that I wanted to see what would happen if you took off your enchantments.”

“Grk…” the dragon rider hesitated. He suddenly preferred what he initially assumed to what Rona actually desired. “Miss Rona. If we do that, we’ll lose our extra magic resistance.”

“I know,” nodded the mouse girl as she put her hand on the miniscule dragon rider’s shoulder. She had to squat down to properly place it on him, but its firm grip kept him in pace. Furthermore, Gale found her tail caught as well by Rona’s tail coiling around it. “But that’s precisely why I’m curious. I’ve been researching status ailments for years, and Mini is still a mysterious curse. If I learned more about it, I definitely could create a potion that cures on Mini without having to rely on those expensive, rare ingredients for the Panacea.”

She wanted to know more about what would happen if they lost their magic resistance while Mini.

Alain wondered if it was because the mouse beastkin’s researcher switch had been flipped or if it was just because she was more comfortable speaking up due to being bigger than him. Whatever the case, she was being more assertive than he had ever seen her. It unnerved the dragon rider. 

However, the reward of a Panacea was too much to pass up in this case. If all they had to do was remove their enchanted equipment to receive the precious recovery item, they would.

“Alright then,” decided the adventurer as he climbed back onto his mount. The pair were of one mind and one soul. They would remove the magic resistance enchantment together. He gulped. “Gale, get ready.”

“Ewoo!” affirmed the dragon as her rider removed the enchanted equipment they both were wearing.

“U-Urgk...” “W-Woo...”

In an instant, the duo found a heavy force pushing into them from all directions - like an omni-directional Gravity spell. They were familiar with this feeling - the effects of Mini on their bodies. As Alain had thought, if they lost the magic resistance that had allowed them to be 15 cm tall instead of 5, the cursed status effect would bring them back to that height.

Alain watched as the 33 cm mouse woman rose up in his perspective. As their heights went beneath Rona’s knees, the man tried to keep his head facing forward instead of upwards because they were now able to see under the mouse girl’s knee-length dress. They were going down from child-sized to doll sized again. 

But doll-sized to the mouse girl ended up being a height they passed over.

“Wait… B-Blasted! What’s going on?” he stuttered, watching Rona continue to rise up higher and higher. By the time his shrinking finished, the pair had gone from 15 cm to 1 cm. They were barely taller than the mouse beast-kin’s ankles.

“Oh. Dialantha is good...” he heard the mouse girl comment, impressed.

“W-What happened?”

“Hehehe….” A giggle escaped Rona before she could stifle it by putting her hand over her mouth. She made sure to take a step back so she could see the miniscule dragon rider and his mount properly. “My apologies, Alain. I didn’t think you’d end up so small. This is even worse than the norm.”

He figured that much out. Gale began to flap her wings. The Emerald Dragon did not like the idea of being on the ground next to a barefoot that could crush her so she took flight, slowly trying to bring herself up to Rona’s eye level. She was so slow due to her minute size, however, that without any enhancements it was quicker for the mouse woman to kneel down than for her to fly up. In doing so however, she created enough of a gust of wind that the dragon couldn’t continue upwards.

“Whoa, Gale! Hold on tight there!” Alain ordered as he tried to get his mount to get upright in midair.

Rona tried to explain her observations to the centimeter tall pair as she watched them fly around. “From what I can gather, her trap didn’t just simply inflict Mini on you two. It’s clear that there was a Reduce Magic Resistance curse applied onto it as well.”

So that was why they had been shrunken down so small even when they had the enchantments. They had been cripled by the weakening curse in tandem with the Mini curse.

“Gale, we are making a mess of that woman’s hut when this is all over,” Alain ground his teeth.

“Woo! Woo!” the dragon was equally as furious.

The mouse girl’s interest continued to grow as she watched the diminished adventurer fly about around her knees. Critters like butterflies were fairly large to her normally, but she wondered if seeing Alain and Gale fly about the same experience Lysa had with them.

“Hehehe...” a light laugh escaped Rona as her tail curled happily. “To think I’m so much bigger than someone like this. It makes me wish I actually studied magic to be able to use Mini. Fooooo~!”

The 33 cm potion maker playfully blew down onto where the dragon rider was circling. To the adventurer, it felt like a storm’s gusts started to batter down on them.

“H-Hey! This wasn’t part of the deal, Miss Rona! This is dangerous to us!” he shouted as he and Gale fought the gust of the mouse girl’s breath.

“My apologies. I simply couldn’t resist,” spoke the apothecary, though it was clear she was amused. She was content after having seen Alain shrink further, however, so that meant she had to uphold her end of the bargain. Standing back up to her towering full height of 33 cm, she stepped away from the flying bug that was the dragon rider and dragon duo. “I’ll go grab a panacea bottle, so you just wait there, okay?”

“Finally…,” the dragon rider let out a breath of relief as he watched the mouse woman walk over to a steel box. She used her tail to take out a small key that was hidden beneath a potted plant that was on the table and then used it to open the box. It was quite a sight seeing the giant (to him) woman struggle to lift the box and then pull out the gargantuan glass vial that was the status ailment curing Panacea.

He was thankful Rona was actually a reasonable sort of woman. Though she had playfully blown down on them, she did not do anything beyond that. She cared for her customers’ safety despite her intellectual curiosity. It was why she was the brains of the operation at Ly-Ro Potions as well as why Alain was willing to remain in Ramil for an entire month. The ability to get a trusted supplier of restorative products was a boon to any travelling vagabond.

Rona was also quite a beauty now that he was of a small enough size to see more of her. If their normal sizes were actually similar enough, Alain admitted he wouldn’t have actually minded disrobing at her request… without the dangers of Mini still affecting him of course.

The mouse woman was a far better option than the young lynx, Lysa, after all.

Wham!

“Break time!” a loud voice echoed in the backroom of the guild’s potion store as the clerk slammed open the door with great force. Even as far away as the door was, Lysa was forceful enough that the table Rona was on shook, causing the mouse woman to stumble for a moment.

“L-Lysa! Please be more gentle! You nearly made me break a bottle.”

“Oops. Sorry, Rona,” apologized the feline beastkin.

“Is that a Panacea? Did you and Mister Alain make a deal?” 

“Yes. I was curious about his enchantments, and I wanted to know more. I’m sorry for giving him such a big discount without talking to you first. I think I’m one step closer to an Anti-Mini potion, though.”

“If that’s the case, I don’t mind at all. You’re the potion maker here. If you actually manage to make a cheap Anti-Mini potion, I won’t complain! More money means more profits~! Hehehe~!”

Alain and Gale were wary as they watched Lysa approach the table. Her gargantuan form was mountainous in height. If the two needed to get to her eyes, it would require a strong effort on Gale’s part. The buckle of the belt on the clerk’s hip alone was five times their height. 

At the very least, the beastkin were far more civilized than monsters; however, the smallest they had ever gotten was 2 cm. Being small in front of someone who was regular sized was not too unfamiliar to them, but 1 cm was far more miniscule than the previous incidents. And considering they were now 15 times smaller than before, Lysa was just as dangerous as encountering a predator of a monster while Mini’d. Additionally, because she had seen him at 15 cm tall earlier, she wouldn’t have realized he’d gotten smaller. She was unaware that her movements pushed the air aside, causing a heavy burst of wind that the dragon rider had to fight to stay airborne. 

When Lysa sat down by the table, her attention was focused on Rona, so she did not realize he and Gale were flying in circles above the desk. However, she was not blind. Beastkin had sharp instincts and feline-types were able to detect even the slightest bit of movement.

“Hm…? A bug?”

Though she didn’t realize it was them, she had spotted them. Their miniscule size registered them as a bug to the beastkin clerk who did not realize they had gotten smaller.

“Huh? W-Wait Lys-” Rona realized too late to stop her partner.

“B-Blas-”

Smaaaaaaack!

In an instant, an enormous skin colored ceiling appeared before the dragon rider and dragon. It came down on them, slamming into them and pushing them through the air downwards. There was no evading the titanic lynx-like beastkin as she slammed her hand down onto the table, intent to squish the ‘fly’ she had spotted.

And that was precisely what happened. Alain’s attempts to put up a defensive barrier in time were in vain because the moment he generated a magic shield, Lysa’s village-sized hand hit it, sending both the dragon rider and dragon into the table with intense strength. The shield was only able to protect them for a short time before it shattered from the force of Lysa’s hand impacting the table.

“There we go~!” giggled the feline beastkin.

“No! Lysa! That was Alain and Gale you just smacked! They got even smaller earlier!” Rona shouted, letting go of the table to run all the way over to the injured bug-sized duo.

“What? Eh? M-Mister Alain? I didn’t realize.”

The pair were alive but in intense pain. 

“G-Grk! That hurt… If it weren’t for the barrier… we’d be paste…,” the dragon rider managed to speak. He had been right to be wary and ready to defend. “Gale… are you alright?”

“Woo woo…,” the dragon uttered weakly. Her wings were bruised but not broken. Her rider’s magic protected her well.

It was then that Rona finally came up to them. The mouse girl’s shadow fell over the fallen pair as she looked down at them with worry. She carefully picked them up. She was well aware that it was her request that had gotten him smaller and weaker. Though the cause of his being affected by Mini was a magic trap’s fault, the two wouldn’t have shrunken down further if she hadn’t asked for them to take off their protective enchantments.

“Uwah... We might need to give him a big discount to make up for this.”

The beastkin clerk had been no adventurer, but she had been able to catch them and swat them like an insect so easily. And they were even small enough for a mouse-type beastkin to be able to hold them in the palm of her hand. Even back in an innocent town, while under the effects of Mini, even an ordinary villager could overpower them. This was precisely why the Panacea was so vital to them. If a cheaper way to remove the bad status effect existed, they would purchase it in a heartbeat, but until then, the dragon rider and his mount would have to endure more trials and tribulations brought about whenever they were reduced in scale.