Jigglypuff's Diary

Volume 1 Chapter 20
Ryouma had lunch with the four members of the Duke’s household.

At the start they were talking about how Elia fought, but midway through Elia suddenly said this.

“By the way Ryouma-san, what were you thinking about a while ago?’
“A while ago? What do you mean?”
“A while ago you were looking around and saying ‘what a waste’, right?”

When Ryouma heard those words, he stiffened.

“Ah, it’s no–nothing special…”

The words that came out were obviously a lie. Since Ryouma wasn’t using his grandparents as an excuse this time, his excuse was very poor, and everyone was able to figure it out.

Elia was the first to point it out.
“How very suspicious, Ryouma-san.”
“You’re not really good at lying.”
Mentioned Rheinbach-sama at the obvious lie.
“Is it something hard to mention?”
“If you have something to say, it’s ok to say it, you know?”
Inquired Rheinhart-san as the madam tried to support Ryouma.

Realizing that his attempt to fool them had failed, he gave up.

“Do you remember the conversation we had before arriving at the Town of Gimuru? That story about the salt mountain.”
Rheinhart-san, suddenly understanding, said.
“Ah… I see. It’s fine, the ones here are just us, Sebasu, Aro-ne, and Lilian. Aro-ne and Lilian won’t spread rumors, and the other men are eating at a different place.”
“I see. Then you know I can use Alchemy, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

Answered Rheinhart-san as he told Aro-ne and Lilian about Ryouma.

When they heard the word ‘Alchemy’ they were shocked, but did not give any sign of contempt. Ryouma gave a sigh of relief and then began talking.

“This mine will become an abandoned mine, right?” Rheinbach-sama nodded
“That’s right. The papers have already been processed.”
“So what about it?”
“I think I can still produce some iron from this mine if I use Alchemy.”

At those words, this time everyone else aside from Ryouma stiffened.

Rheinbach-sama couldn’t help but ask
“Is that really true?”
“Yes. I once talked about how I managed to remove the poison from the salt in the salt mountain in the Forest of Gana, right?”
“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”
“In the same way I removed the poison from the salt, this time I can gather the soil and produce iron. That red soil is the color of rust. Say, if one were to leave his sword wet, over time it would get rusty, right?”
“Of course.”

“In the same way the soil that has iron content in it will have the same color. That’s why there is definitely iron in that soil. I believe if I use Alchemy’s Separation on that soil once or twice, then I’ll be able to extract a lump of iron. Only thing is, if an abandoned mine were to suddenly start producing iron again, it would cause a fuss, right? So since it’s not possible to get it by digging as you would normally, and since there’s a problem with using Alchemy, I thought, ‘What a waste…’.”
“That’s true but… Ryouma-kun, if you think you can do it, why don’t you try doing it? I actually have a way to sell something like that legally without catching attention.”
“Alright.”

Replied Ryouma cheerfully. After having their meal, the other guards went on their own ways to dispatch the monsters. With them gone, Ryouma and the rest began their operation. Ryouma prepared the magic formation that is essential to Alchemy by drawing a square inside a circle. He then put the reddish soil into a stone container he made using Earth Magic and then placed it on top of the magic formation.

“Then, I’ll start. It’s dangerous, so please do not go inside the magic formation.”

As Ryouma said that he allowed his magic power to flow into the magic formation causing it to illuminate. From inside the shining magic formation, the soil and the stone vessel was being pushed out. When the light had disappeared, all that was left inside the formation was the silver colored sand of iron.

After Ryouma had confirmed that, he quickly drew a pentagram within a circle. He placed the silver colored sand of iron on that and allowed magic to flow into the magic formation.

This is the magic formation when using Alchemy’s ‘Synthesis’. The practitioner needs to know the original material and the material it will synthesize into. From this, the practitioner will be able to make the material on the magic formation synthesize turning it into one lump, making it possible to create an alloy from several metals.

With this, Ryouma turned the iron content he brought out into an iron ingot. Confirming that, he used ‘Identify’. And then this came out:

Iron Ingot
It is an iron ingot with 100% purity.

Having understood that he had succeeded, Ryouma handed the ingot to Rheinhart-san and had him use ‘Identify’ on it.

“You really were able to do it……………………I’m sorry, Ryouma-kun.”

Rheinhart was shocked that Ryouma was actually able to produce iron. While he was dumfounded for a while, he quickly put himself together and bowed his head deeply. At that sudden behavior, Ryouma was at a lost.

“Eh!? Why all of the sudden!? Please raise your head!”

At those words Rheinhart raised his head but he spoke with a face that looked very apologetic.

“Although I didn’t think you’d swindle others, but because there are a lot of people who say they can make gold and swindle others, I thought for sure you wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m sorry for not having been able to trust you.”

When Ryouma finally understood what was bothering Rheinhart, he immediately told him that he doesn’t mind, however, Rheinhart did not look satisfied. Rheinhart kept apologizing, and Ryouma kept forgiving, their conversation kept moving parallel to each other until Elize and Rheinbach finally interfered. When they finished talking, Sebasu spoke up.

“Rheinhart-sama, about this iron…”
“Right! We need to prepare to sell these iron ingots…”
“Unfortunately, we cannot sell these things.”
“What? Why is it no good?”
“This thing is certainly iron and Ryouma-sama’s ability to perform Alchemy is truly awe-inspiring, however, there is just one problem, the purity is too high.”

Having been told that, Rheinhart, Elize, and Rheinbach used ‘Identify’ again. Afterwards, they each breathe out a defeated sigh. Seeing those three’s expressions, Ryouma couldn’t help but ask what was wrong.

Apparently in this world, the highest purity that can be sold has 10% impurity. And the inferior ones have greater than 40%. If there happened to be an iron with 0% impurity, meaning a pure iron, there would be a huge commotion over it and there would be many people who would try to find out the manufacturing method.

Receiving that explanation, Ryouma realized what the problem was. At the same time, he thought of a way to fix it.

Ryouma quickly drew a hexagram within a circle, and put on top of it the ingot and the soil he got when he extracted the iron. And then he allowed his magic power to flow into the formation.

The hexagram formation is for using Alchemy’s ‘Mixing’. Using this, one will be able to mix several materials without bias. Because of this, Ryouma was able to lower the purity of the ingot by mixing it with the original material. As a result its color changed to black. When he used identify on it this came out,

Iron Ingot
An iron ingot with 10% impurity

When he gave it to Rheinhart-san, they couldn’t help but be shocked. At the same time, though, they showed great joy since with this, it can now be sold.

After that, because Rheinhart and Sebasu-san were figuring out who to sell the iron to, the afternoon monster hunt party ended up becoming Ryouma, Elia, Elize and Rheinbach.

“Good grief, I’m happy that guy is trying to improve the town I made but when he’s like that, he becomes impossible to deal with.”
Grumbled, Rheinbach.
“Really, father…”
The madam looked at Rheinhart and asked
“I’m troubled that you’re neglecting Ryouma and Elia. You don’t think so?”

“I am also a part of the cause… and also isn’t it better that Rheinhart-san is doing his work rather than being lazy.”

Because Ryouma was also the same kind of person who would lose track of everything around him when caught up in his work, it wasn’t actually possible for him to scold Rheinhart.

The madam helplessly said、

“Well that’s true… ah, we arrived.”

Ryouma and Elia arrived in front of the entrance to another tunnel.

“Well then, from here on you guys decide on how to move. I and father-in-law will only go along with you guys from here on. We’ll save you when it gets dangerous, but aside from that we won’t do anything at all.”
“Since this is to help Elia gain some experience and since Ryouma-kun already has some experience, Ryouma will also have to step back. If she needs help, at most just talk to her.”
 
Suddenly having a problem pushed onto you, a normal person would be troubled. Elia, however, was someone who had always received their training. And so this is how she replied,

“I understand, I’ll do my best.”

From the looks of things, it would appear she’s used to suddenly being given a problem. 

“It’s dark and I can’t see very well.”

Elia was different compared to Ryouma who had always hunted during the night in the forest.

“Ryouma-san, what do you do when hunting during the night?”
“If you do it for a long time you’ll get used to it but… if it’s ok for us to be seen, then it’s fine to use the light magic, ‘light’ as many times as you want. If you don’t want to be found out then using the neutral magic, ‘Search’ would be best. There’s still a chance of being discovered through the perception of magic but it’s still better than ‘Light’.”
“I can’t use Search. Can Ryouma-san use Search?”
“I can use it.”
“How do I use it? I know the theory, but I don’t actually know how to apply it.”

Hearing that, Ryouma thought for a while. Then he created a container made out of stone with earth magic and filled it up with water using water magic.

“Please look at this.”
“What will you do with this?”

Ryouma showed the vessel to Elia, and then dropped a rock in the middle of it causing waves to rise within the small vessel.

“The center of the rock is one’s self. The waves are the flow of magic power. Imagine yourself to be at the center and allow your magic power to become like these waves of water. Then allow it to spread to your surroundings where you think the monster may be.”

Ryouma then, continued to drop small rocks on the vessel while sinking the waves with water magic. After a while, he dropped a rock one more time, but this time the wave could clearly be seen stopping at some point when it hit a rock. 

“In a similar sense, this is how a monster could interrupt the wave you are releasing, and is the reaction that you will get when using Search if there is a person or a monster in the area.”
“I get it. That explanation was really easy to understand. Well then, ‘Search’ !”

Elia immediately invocated the magic, ‘Search’. At that instant, magic power flowed into the surroundings with Elia as its center.

“There are a lot of monsters just a little bit ahead of us!”
“Looks like it worked, unfortunately though, you put too much magic power. Using a lot is a waste, and also if there were a magician on their side, we’d be found out.”
“Is that so? Looks like I need to practice.”
“Search goes alongside with the duty of the vanguard, so I’ll do it. It will be better for Elia to focus on magic.”
“I understand. Thank you, Ryouma-san.”

Ryouma nodded and invocated ‘Search’. And as Elia mentioned, there were a lot of monsters ahead.

“If we go this way, the road will get wider and there’s an empty cave ahead. I am getting a lot of response from the ceiling of that place. It looks like there are plenty of monsters filling the ceiling, they’re probably cave bats.”
Rheinbach-san nodded,
“If they’re in the ceiling, then they’re probably cave bats.”
The Madam followed,
“If there’s so much of them that they’re filling up the ceiling then… Elia, will you be alright?”
“They’re small and on top of that they’re fast, so one or two would be good practice, but…”
Said Rheinbach-sama.
“Then in that case, do you mind if I try out an experiment?’
Hearing that, the three couldn’t help but ask at the same time,
“Experiment?”
“Yes. If it goes well I may be able to round up the bats.”

Ryouma then explained while he confirmed the bat’s ecology.

At that, he found out that the Cave Bat’s ecology is not that different from the bats of Earth. Knowing that, Ryouma proposed the use of sound. He figured, if they were to use a magic that can create a powerful sound, it should be able to knock the cave bats out.

Actually, while he was living in the forest, Ryouma was able to create several sound magic.

A magic that silences the sound surrounding the target, ‘Silent’. A magic that does the opposite and makes the sound louder, ‘Big Voice’. A magic that allows sound to reach far, ‘Whisper’. While practicing Big Sound, Ryouma was accidently able to produce a sound explosion capable of destroying the ear drums, which he called ‘Stun Sound’ and by combining it with ‘Whisper’ he was able to create a remote non-lethal magic called ‘Sound Bomb.

Sound Bomb is extremely powerful but it has the downside of making a big noise. Using this magic, it was possible to destroy the ear drums of the Black Bear in one shot, causing it to faint. Ryouma figured that if this was used against the bats it would have some effect.

Only, there were currently three problems. The first is whether or not the noise it produces will cause the tunnel to collapse or not, the second is whether there are people around or not and the last one is what will happen if it fails to dispose of the bats.

Ryouma asked Rheinbach about the first question and as it turns out, since the tunnel has been strengthened by earth magic, there’s nothing to worry about regarding the cave collapsing. As for the second problem, it’s possible to figure out if there are any people around by just using ‘Search’ and then in the instance that the ‘Sound Bomb’ fails to dispose of the bats, then Ryouma will deal with it using the slimes.

Ryouma brought out the Sticky Slime from the Dimension Home and using ‘Enlarge’ had it block the tunnel, giving it the order to act as some kind of net. The slime, following that order, used the ‘Sticky Liquid’ to create a net. Ryouma then put up a sound proofing barrier preventing the sound from the outside from going inside.

“ ‘Search’ ……………… Good, there’s no one there. The preparations have been completed.”
Rheinbach nodded
“We’re ready as well, you can go anytime you want.”
“Then in that case, ‘Sound Bomb’ “

At that instance, a tremendous sound erupted like an explosion from outside the barrier, echoing within the tunnels.

The cave bats in the ceiling of the tunnel were unable to run and most of them fainted. The ones that were able to run away were only 10, but those cave bats were unable to fly steadily and ended up hitting against the walls. There were also some bats that went over to Ryouma’s side, but they got caught in the net and was unable to move.

“Looks like a success. Let’s go.”

Removing the barrier and the slime’s net, the four headed over to where the bats were. When they got there, a significant number of cave bats could be seeing lying on the floor.
 
Seeing that, Rheinbach and the Madam couldn’t help but praise,
“This is amazing.”
“It’s true that cave bats aren’t particularly dangerous, but they’re kind of hard to kill. To think that a child would be able to deal with them so easily, I don’t think something like this has happened before.”
“Amazing, Ryouma-san!”
“The experiment seemed to have ended well. Ah… these, is it ok if I feed these to my slimes?”
“Well cave bats don’t really sell that well so…”

Hearing that, Ryouma made the sticky slime split and had the 364 sticky slimes eat all of the cave bats. After that, Ryouma felt that the sticky slimes have become able to split again, so he decided to have them split once he got back home to the lodging.

After that, Ryouma and his slime continued to support Elia while she hunted the small rats for the next hour.

Afterwards, the four people left the tunnel. After they had rested, they were planning to go to the next dungeon, but at that moment, Rheinhart came over. And then he said,

“Ryouma-kun, can you make a few more samples of the iron we are going to sell?”

And so, because of that, Ryouma had to separate from the others to make more ingots.

He finished the ingots fairly quickly, but the three had already gone into the tunnel. Being bored, Ryouma thought of entering a tunnel but instead started making the slimes split.

However that also ended in an hour and without anything to do, Ryouma took out the slimes from the Dimension Home and passed the time by training.

Ryouma used Earth Magic to make a rod out of stone and used it along with his fists to hit the slimes. In response, the slimes either dodged that or defended.

Ryouma did something like this from time to time while in the forest to train the slimes. The slimes may be weak monsters but unless one hits the nucleus inside their body or hits the soft semi-liquid body of theirs, they can’t die.

The slime can make the nucleus inside its body go anywhere. So when Ryouma is fighting the slimes, the slimes move the nucleus to the opposite direction to protect it and escape from the attack with its semi-liquid body. In the instance where it is kicked to the ground, the slimes can do the same thing to negate the damage.

Right after taming it wasn’t possible, but after being together for a long time, Ryouma began to see the slimes making skillful movement and so he began the training.

Ryouma focused on teaching the slimes the foundation of battle techniques on dodging and defending. Like going under the bosom of the opponent coming at you to cut you down to dodge, and entwining yourself around the hand holding the sword that has come near you or making use of the semi-liquid body and using the enemy’s weapon to parry.

Moreover, while slimes are normally unable to fight except by ramming their body against their opponents, Ryouma’s slimes are able to extend tentacles and use it like some sort of whip. There are also some that can counter attack with weapons as if they were using their hands. Nowadays there are slimes that can extend their bodies and use spears and pseudo-rod techniques.

Also, while Ryouma was practicing with the slimes, Lilian was watching. Lilian couldn’t’ believe her eyes when she saw the slimes executing movements that slimes normally couldn’t, however, Ryouma didn’t notice this.

After this, Lilian went to Sebasu and asked, “Are Slimes able to use battle techniques?” Because of that Sebasu began to worry about her health. Fortunately though, she was able to solve the misunderstanding when she mentioned that she was talking about Ryouma’s slimes. However, being unable to believe that slimes could use battle techniques, Sebasu said, “Ryouma-sama’s slimes are able to perform skillful movements so maybe that’s what you saw?” Hearing that, Lilian was convinced and she forgot about the slimes.

“Ryouma-san!”
“Elia, you’re done with your training?”
“Yes, the training for today has ended. But more than that, I have a present for Ryouma san.”
“Present?”
“Fufufu… If it’s Ryouma, I wonder if you’ll like it?”

As Elia and Elize said that, Rheinbach came with a box made out of a stone. Looks like it was made with earth magic.

“Inside this is a magical beast, it’s weak but you should still be careful.”

Hearing that it’s a magical beast, Ryouma opened the lid while being cautious. In the next moment, Ryouma was captivated when he saw what was inside.

“Slime?”

What was inside was a dark grey Slime. It was obviously not a normal slime, but it was a kind of slime Ryouma had never seen.

“It’s a high class slime called Metal Slime. We saw it by chance so we caught it.”
“Thank you very much! I’m really happy! To have another slime, and what’s more, a new kind…”

Ryouma gave his thanks to the other three and then began to observe the slime. The three were happy that Ryouma happily received it but when he started observing, they couldn’t help but give a wry smile. At that, Rheinbach reminded Ryouma,

“Even if it’s a slime it’s still a magical beast so it’ll be better for you to make a contract with it now.”

As if he head just remembered it when Rheinbach mentioned it, Ryouma enacted the Slave Monster Contract. After that, until it was time to go back, Ryouma made some iron out of the red soil and gave it to the slime, wondering whether or not it would eat it.

The result was that the metal slime did in fact eat the lump of iron but needed time. So instead he used Alchemy to turn the ingot into its previous sand like state and the slime was able to eat it quickly.

Ryouma hypothesized that the slime had most likely eaten the soil with metal content, and as a result it ended up evolving like that.

And so he thought of using the sand-like iron that the metal slime liked to eat as lure. And then made a contract with the lured slime. He continued to feed the slime iron for the sake of ascertaining of whether or not the evolution condition is to feed it metal. If it does evolve, then that will prove that the hypothesis is correct.

After that, he was told that they were about to leave and so Ryouma got permission from Rheinhart to get a huge amount of red soil as feed for the slime, and put it in a corner in his Dimension Home.

He used ‘Create Block’ on the red soil and had the slimes transport it. Like this he was able to secure a huge number of red soil. At this point, Ryouma began to feel that he’s starting to reach the limit of his magic power. A sensation that he hasn’t felt in a while.

Ryouma rode the carriage in that condition and was heading for the town but while he was there, Rheinhart told him this,

“I know you’re tired and I’m sorry about this, but can you go with me for a while? I want to go to the place of the person who will work with us to sell the iron, the slime thread, and the water proof cloth that you made. He’s a trustworthy person, so I thought of introducing Ryouma-kun as well.”

Since Ryouma-kun was only a little tired, he felt that there was nothing wrong with going, and he agreed.

After that, 1 hour had passed and they finally reached the town. They then stopped in front of a huge shop.

“Well, well. What a pleasant surprise to have the members of the Duke’s Household come. Welcome.”

When they entered the store, they immediately went deep inside the shop and entered a big room. When they got there, another man entered as well. That man couldn’t really be called fat, but he certainly had a stout figure. 


When he came, Rheinhart greeted him,
“Serge, it’s been a while.”
“Yes. It’s unfortunate that I am unable to get many opportunities to meet with the members of the Duke’s Household like this. But I’m happy to see that you are all doing well. 

And as for this young lad here, I believe it’s the first time we’ve met. My name is Serge Morgan. I am the president of the Morgan Firm.”

“I am Ryouma Takebayashi. Because of some twist of fate I’ve come to be in the care of the Jamil Household. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Although Serge was surprised at Ryouma’s manner of speech, he showed a smile. And in response Ryouma also smiled. And although this man’s manner of speech was similar to Matthew of the Tamer Guild, Ryouma wasn’t able to feel the sort of ill will he felt from Matthew.

Like this their greetings ended, and they went onto the main topic.

When I opened my eyes the sun was already high.

Ah~…… I slept well. It’s been a while since I last worked that hard….. Hmm… the sun’s already high……

…………………The sun is high? ………… Not good!

“Good morning, Ryouma-sama.”
“Sebasu-san, what’s the time right now?”
“It’s already almost lunch. As expected Ryouma-sama must have been really tired. It’s good that Ryouma-sama seemed to have had a good night’s rest, will you be having your meal now?”
“Thank you but I have to go to the guild now so I’ll have it when I come back.”
“Alright.”

I quickly get myself readied and head towards the guild. This is bad, there’s no more time. I guess I’ll have to do it.

I put up a Barrier of Concealment around me and, wrapping my magic around me to strengthen my body, I activate the neutral magic, Body Strengthening.

Using my strengthened body, I run up to the roof of the nearest building, and ran on top of the roof. I then activate the short distance movement space magic, teleport, and then run straight for the guild. Like this, I somehow managed to make it by noon.

“Excuse me”

Everyone was already gathered when I got to the room.

“You came, Ryouma. With this, everyone’s gathered.”
“Sorry for making you wait”
“You managed to make it just in time, so don’t mind it. Then, let’s get started. Your payment for this job!

I got 3 medium silver coins from the previous latrine pit job I took. The one I got today was 30 small gold coins. As for the others, they all got 10 small gold coins each.

“Hey, hey, old man, aren’t you being unusually generous?”
“Seriously. You gave it, so we’ll accept it but you do know that all we did was look out, right?”Asked Jeff-san and Wereanna-san because of the unusually high amount. Even the veteran dwarf adventurer, Gordon, asked
 “Isn’t the pay too high? Even if you say that we were near a place from where an infectious disease might spread, it’s not like we actually did anything directly. Just half of this would be fine, no?’
The guild master just shook his head though, and said
“Nah, that amount is undoubtedly correct. The reason for that is…… Ryouma”
“Yes?”

“You said it, right? That the name of the infectious disease in the latrine pit was the Idake Disease, right?”
“Yes, I had confirmed it with, Identify, therefore it is definitely correct.
“Apparently that disease is quite problematic. You see, I asked some trashy old hag I know about the details regarding that, and as it turns out it has a pretty low death rate. Only, it spreads fast, and it leaves its survivors unable to move their limbs. But since, being unable to move also means being unable to work, in the end it’s pretty much the same as dying.

And so, the reward for this time’s job is because of that. Although it doesn’t have a high death rate, the old ones and kids have a high chance of dying and as for those that do survive, including adults, they’ll all end up unable to work. So I’m paying you that much after taking that into consideration.”

When the guild master finished explaining, everyone broke out into a cold sweat.

Looks like it was really dangerous…… Although it’s also because of the after effects, but not being able to work is just too much of a hit since you won’t be able to make a living. In a world without insurance or a country that will offer relief for its citizens, it’s a lethal strike. In the end, if one were to catch that disease, it could lead to only one conclusion, starvation.

“It’s good that we were able to stop it ahead of time, nya……”
“In a sense you could say that it’s scarier than a disease with a high death rate”
“If you catch it and die, you pass on. But if you manage to survive, then in its own way, you get to enter hell.”

As the direction of the conversation moved, the Guild Master mentioned this
“This time the public office seemed to have taken quite a scolding. As for what’s going to happen to the janitorial position of the latrine pits… right now, it’s quite a mess”
Wereanna-san gave him a questioning look and asked
“You mean, they’re not giving it back to the people of the slum?”
“Unfortunately, that’s impossible. Even if you tell them that the top executive responsible for giving out low wages has been fired and that you’ll be paying the former amount, it doesn’t really seem like they’re willing to believe it. And also, apparently, they were given a new job, and also from their point of view…

Other towns aside, since this town here is near a mine. There are a lot of jobs here that people don’t like to do, physical labor, dirty labor… those kinds of stuff. But because there those kind of jobs are numerous, the people of the slum are able to find new work. So it’s not like there’s any particular reason to make a fuss over the job of cleaning the latrine pits…

And first of all, the one at fault was the public office. They also can’t tell them to stop their job and come work for them again so from the looks of things they just gave up on trying to employ the slum”

“Then, what’s going to happen? This time we got lucky that Ryouma noticed it but it will be bad if this happens again.”
“That’s right, putting it bluntly, it’s because we’d be paid that the guild was able to push it on to us. But from now here on out, the guild we’ll probably have to force the people that have a lot of failed missions or those that broken the rules to take on the job.”

“That kind of thing, just leave it to them, they’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t say it so casually…”
“Please do calm down, I’ll also take requests while I’m in the town, so please think of something during that time.”
“Thanks.”
“Nya? Does Ryouma live in a different town somewhere?”
“Acutally, I don’t live in a town but in a forest.”
“Forest?”
“Do you know the forest of Gana? From here it will take around 1 week to get there…”
“If I’m correct it’s the one close to the town of Gaunago, right?”
“That’s right. I live deep inside that forest.”
“In the forest? Why in a place like that?”

“It’s because I’m an orphan. Unfortunately, though, my grandparents that picked me up passed away, and the village we lived in was particularly cruel to outsiders, so in the end I had no choice but to leave the village. Fortunately, my grandparents were adventurers and had given me the knowledge and skill I would need to survive. Thanks to that, I was able to live by myself in the forest. I did live in the forest for 3 years, so I wonder if it’s because of that, that I’m starting to find it more comfortable to live in the forest rather than in a place with people.”

“3 years!?’
“Wait a moment. Ryouma-kun, how old are you?”
“11 years old.”
“So you’ve been living by yourself in the forest since you were 8 years old?”
“You’re crazy…”
“Then, how come you’re in a village like this?”

“Well I had been wondering if it was really ok to continue that lifestyle since my grandparents did tell me to go to a different village. At some point though, I ended up meeting some people who were going here, and so I decided to go with them to see what a town inhabited by people is like”
“Are you going back?”

“Well, I am worried and I also have some attachment to that house I made that I lived in for 3 years. Alternatively, I might also be able to find a place to live in deep in the forest around here.”

“Um, how about no? Go live in the town. Why do you have to go all the way to the forest to live?”
“Well the house is made by magic, and food is dealt with, by simply hunting, like this it’s quite the carefree lifestyle, you know? Oh, money also isn’t needed.”

“Ryouma, this one thinks that you being a hermit at that age is too early.”
“That’s true…… I can vaguely feel it.”

“Well just think hard enough about it to have no regrets. I’d be grateful if you stayed here, but it’s better if you choose to live here without being burdened. Just go live the way you want.

For the mean time the properties of the people who were embezzling money were confiscated, and the people who worked with them had their salaries cut. All those funds retrieved will be used as finances for the town so for the mean time there will be money. So at the very least the town will have money to hire people to handle things.

……Anyway with this I’ve given you guys what I needed to give you. And also, there’s one last thing I need to let you guys know. A few days from now, a request will be posted regarding the subjugation of the monsters taking nest inside the mine. Practically speaking, that mine has been abandoned years ago but it’s only this year that it will be officially declared as abandoned. There are several kinds of magical beasts taking nest inside that mine. Their mostly just a bunch of small beasts but the scope is wide so they want to hire adventurers for the job. Take those jobs and kick their asses. Dismissed!”

Like that we were dismissed and we each went our own ways. I went back to the lodging where Elia and the rest were waiting for me. From the looks of things, they wanted us to eat lunch together and so they had waited for me. I give my thanks, take my seat, and have lunch with them. At which point Elia said this

“Ryouma-san, let’s have special training!”
“What’s the matter all of the sudden?”

… I feel like we’d also had a similar conversation in the past…

“I’ll be having special training from today onwards so I wanted to know if Ryouma-san might want to join too.”
“The truth is, this trip is not only just a trip, but also for the sake of serving as Elia’s battle practice.”
“My household does not discriminate between men and women and makes its members go on a journey for the sake of practicing magic and slave magic. Depending on how good one is, they can also become an adventurer.”

“Going on a trip, widening one’s knowledge and getting a better outlook on life is good for the family. But in order to do something like that, it’s necessary to have the strength to do so. We could just assign some escorts for our heirs as well, but then it will be uncomfortable for them, and also since they won’t be putting any effort, the results will be half-baked. So with that in mind, Elia will be fighting personally in order to gain the power to protect herself in the future.”

“From this year on, I will be going to school to learn magic and academics. So before that, I wanted to gather some experience.”
“I see, so that’s why you came here.”
“That’s right. Since this morning until just a while ago I’ve been practicing and this afternoon as well I’ll be practicing again. So how about it? Won’t Ryouma-san join the training as well?”

This is a good opportunity

“If I won’t be in the way, then please allow me to participate.”

Like that I ended up joining the afternoon training.

We went out the city on carriage and after 20 minutes arrived to a rocky place, where Jill-san and the rest were waiting for us. It seems that our training for today is about magic.

“Ryouma, so you came too. The three days must have been tough, huh?”
“Jill-san as well, I heard you’ve been busy too.”
“Well in its own way.”
“Come on, no more talking, and let’s go practice!”

Said, the excited Ojousama.

“By the way, which attribute will we be training today?”
“Fire and ice is my specialty. Since I have plenty of magic power, if I practice a lot, I’ll able to use a lot of powerful magic”

Lots of powerful magic, huh? Just what you’d expect from someone that specializes in fire.

“Ryouma-sama, just as I’ve mentioned before, it would be good for Ryouma-sama to learn several attack magic of differing attributes. The Ojousama has been training controlling her magic power since this morning.”

After that, our teachers became Sebasu-san for Elia, and Camil-san for me.

“Well then, shall we start?”
“Yes, please take care of me.”
“Here too. It’s just something I heard but, Ryouma has all attribute aptitude, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct. However, I’ve only trained the basic attack magic and the magic I can use in my day-to-day life.”
“Ok. Then can you show me the attack magic that you can use?”
“Alright.”

Saying that, I used the basic magic of fire, water, wind, earth, electricity, ice, and poison on the nearby rock. Specifically, the name of the magic are, Fire Ball, Water Ball, Wind Cutter, Earth Needle, Stun, Ice Shot, and Poison.

“Nice, even if it’s just basic magic, that was still pretty good. If you can do this much then you can probably easily learn the next magic. First off, I’ll show you the new magic one by one. After seeing it, I want you to try it yourself.”
“Alright, I’ll do my best.”
“Then let’s go. First off, is the fire magic, ‘Fire Arrow’ “

The moment Camil-san chanted the magic, fire lit up from his hand, quickly forming into an arrow and flying straight into the rock.

“This is the lesser offensive fire magic, Fire Arrow. It’s faster than Fire Ball and has the power to penetrate through its target. This is the most common, and easiest to use fire magic. Try it yourself.”
“Ok.”

Remembering Camil-san’s fire arrow, I try to recreate it. Just like Fire Ball, I create a ball of fire in my hands, but this time, I compress it and gather it together, and in my mind I imagine an arrow being shot. Then I chant it.

“Fire Arrow”

As I said those words, a Fire Arrow just like Camil-san’s appears, and flies straight into the rock.

“Good, you succeeded. To get it on the first try, your comprehension is good.”
 
Oh? Will I be suspected at a time like this, like they would in a generic light novel? Should I try to trick him a bit?

“It’s because I use the bow. So it was quite easy to create the image.”
“I see. Right, there was also that.”
“Also?”
“Yeah, from time to time there are people who aren’t magicians but use magic in their day to day lives. And even, without learning offensive magic, they manage to raise the level of their magic.

That kind of person, is the type that can quickly learn the magic as long as he creates the image. Depending on the person he or she will usually be able to get it at the second or third try”

Oh, it doesn’t look like the learning speed is that different from the ones in the light novels… that’s good.

After that I also learned the offensive magic, Water Shot, Wind Hammer, Rock bullet, Stun Arrow, and Ice Arrow.

As well as the defensive magic, Fire Wall, Water Wall, Wind Shield, and Ice Shield.

Also it would seem that Camil-san can only use all the low class attributes plus the electric and ice attribute. Because of that he wasn’t able to teach me poison, tree and the high class attribute skills.

“Well I’ve taught you everything so…… shall we go to the middle class and increase the training speed…… yeah…………”

Looks like my learning speed is fast but not abnormal, because of that though, it would appear he’s run out of teaching material. Seeing Camil-san troubled, Sebasu-san came.

“Is there a problem?”
“Sebasu-san.”
“Ryouma-kun’s comprehension is really good. I ended up already teaching him everything I can teach.”
“I see, it was something like that. Then, in that case, I will teach him space magic from here on.”

Brilliant! A space magician who is distinguished even in the country is going to teach me! Lucky!

“Well then, I’ll be going. Do your best, Ryouma-kun.”
“Thank you very much, Camil-san. Please take care of me, Sebasu-san.”
“Then let’s start. First off, does Ryouma-sama have any other space magic other than Item Box?”
“I can use Teleport”
“If it would be fine with Ryouma-sama, could Ryouma-sama please show me?”
“Yes, of course. Then, ‘Teleport’! “

~ Side Sebasu~

Ryouma-sama invocated teleport and appeared beside the nearby rock. From there, he used Teleport 4 more times consecutively, and then came back right in front of me. Excellent. It looks like he understands the magic well.
“That was excellently done, Ryouma-sama. Not only is the speed of invocation fast, but Ryouma-sama was even able to use it consecutively. With this, there should be no problem to use even the middle class magic, Dimension Home, as well as the mid-distance movement magic, Warp.”
“Really!?”
“Yes, it’s true. Is Ryouma-sama aware of the reason as to why the high class attribute, space magic, is hard to use?”
“I don’t know”
“Then in that case, how does space magic work?”
“Well first, one interferes with the dimension using magic power and then distorts it. I believe this to be the basic of the magic.”
“Precisely. However, it is that basic, the foundation, which is the act of interfering with the dimension using magic power that many people find themselves stumbling. The thing called dimension or space is always there. However, the number of people that can truly be aware of it is rare.

Amongst the books that talk about space magic there are many that exaggerate and say things like, “space magic encompasses everything in the world” leading to many people failing to grasp a strong image of it. Because of this, the interference ends up as incomplete.

The truly important part regarding space magic is how one would be able to grasp the space that one is in right now. However, this is not something that you can explain in words. An understanding that comes from words, will only be incomplete. The only way for one to grasp this understanding, is to practice, and understand the feeling. And unless one is able to properly do that, one will not be able to use mid-level space magic up.

Ryouma-sama might find himself quite shocked if I were to say this, but, in truth, low level space magic is the same as mid-level magic.”
“!?”

Fufu… as expected he’s quite shocked.

“In the past space magic didn’t have the low level magic that we have today. One theory says that there used to be no distinction between low level and mid-level. The reason for that is that whether one is able to properly grasp space magic or not, is the only time one can be considered to have taken their first step in space magic. If one is unable to properly grasp that, then the space will only either end in failure or be incomplete. But as time went the number of people that could use space magic decreased and the quality of the space magicians as a whole fell. Because of this, what was once considered to be low level magic has become the mid-level magic, today, and what was considered as a failure is now a low level magic.”

“So I can use the same image I use for Item Box and Teleport for Dimension Home and Warp?”
“That’s correct, however in the case of Dimension Home there are still things that need to be supplemented but in the case of Warp, that’s exactly correct. Just one thing though, since the distance Warp can travel is far greater than Teleport, as long as one is able to properly grasp the destination, then one will be able to go no matter how far. For starters, how about that rock’s summit?”

I point my finger at the farthest rock that I can see. The rock is quite big as well but more than that, it’s perfect because its summit is flat, so it can serve as a foothold.

“I understand, please let me try it”

Ryouma-sama looks like he’s up to challenge. This kind of attitude is the kind that’s worth teaching.

I wonder how many people have I taught magic like this?…………Having been born in the Household of Jamil as someone who possessed talent for Space Magic. While serving the household I did nothing but study and train both as a butler and as a magician.

My magic was quite useful during the days I travelled with the previous head. And when our journey ended, I supported the previous head every day…… I think it was around this time when people started calling me a distinguished space magician within the country.

Before I knew it, the magic that I had been studying, training, and using since I was a child, had become a topic all over the country. The cause was apparently when I used Dimension Home to store a great number of things in order to help the previous head.

After that, a lot of people came asking to become my disciple. They would bring letters with them petition for them to be taken as my disciple, but I rejected all of them. Unfortunately, amongst them, were those that would directly go to the previous head and use their connection as a shield and ask for the vassal or children to be taught.

Of course, ignoring those kind of people would be problematic so I taught them… however, there were truly far too many of them. When the number of people I taught numbered over 100, I had stopped counting, but even then, the number of people that could use mid-level magic above, could not reach even 10. The many sons of the different noble households in particular, would not listen to me when I told them that Space Magic is not something that can be taught through words, showed their displeasure and was not able to properly train.

A person like Ryouma-sama who meekly follows instructions, and earnestly pursues magic training is the kind of person that is most enjoyable to teach. If he has talent, then it’ll be even more interesting. Until now, I wonder if there has ever been a single person that I wanted to teach magic to, by my own decision. There may have been, I don’t know, at the very least I don’t remember.

While I was thinking these things, Ryouma-sama closed his eyes, and focused solely on concentrating his spirit. What a brilliant child, to actually be able to concentrate to this extent… however, it does beg the question, what kind of training did he undergo to become like this?

Now that I think about it, when I met Ryouma-sama for the first time, he was quite the twisted boy. When I first heard about him, I found out that he was a strange boy who was living in the forest without his parents. When I had finally met him in person, I noticed his appearance to be quite neat, considering the time he had spent isolated in the forest. When he first spoke, it was a manner of speech so polite that he would pass even as a noble. And when he had invited us inside, what he brought out for us was the highest class of black tea coupled with the luxurious honey.

His house was like that of a noble’s. It was sturdy, comfortable, and even had its own bath. Appearance aside, if only comfort were to be taken into consideration, then it could definitely be lined up alongside the houses of those nobles.
But more than anything, what was unusual was the knowledge and techniques he possessed. He researched slimes, which no one had been researching, and with the Cleaner Slime and the Scavenger Slime he was able to make his life more comfortable. He even managed to create water proof cloths and thread of a quality that was never before seen.

On the way to Gimuru, he mentioned that he was able to extract the poison from the rock salt that could be taken from the mountain. When Rheinhart-sama showed his interest in it as a product, he said, “The amount is insufficient, if we were to bring that into the market, we’d lose out to the others that can produce more.” That moment, he showed a knowledge that only someone who was raised as a noble or as the son of merchant would have.

And even now, I can still see it, the empty eyes he showed when we got to the town, and the ability he showed when he protected the Ojousama from the ruffians. And when we got to this town, he was able to put a stop to an epidemic that no one knew of, a young boy like that managed to achieve such a splendid achievement.

What is normally impossible for other children, this child does. This child normally shows an adult-like exterior but, recently he seemed to have started to open up his heart to us a bit, and from time to time will shows us an expression befitting his age. Ryouma-sama is….

“Sebasu-san”

Oh, I forgot myself there for a moment.

“Yes, what is it?”
“I think I can do it, let me show you.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Alright, I’m going. ‘Warp’ “

In the next moment, Ryouma-sama disappeared and then reappeared at the top of the rock I pointed at, a while ago. Seeing that, I too warped to the rock.

“Congratulations. Ryouma-sama has successfully learned the mid-level space magic, Warp”
“Yey! Thank you! Sebasu-san!”

Fufu… at times like this, he acts like his age, huh?

“Well then, next, I’ll begin the explanations for Dimension Home. At its core, it is generally the same. Ryouma-sama is to open a hole, and inside that hole spread it wide, and with Ryouma-sama’s image create a big room inside.

It’s the same up this part as with the Item Box. But, leaving the long explanation aside, in this instance, please create a scenery inside the space that is similar to the one here. The Dimension Home is different from the Item Box in that it has its own atmosphere.

And it’s because of that, that living inside or keeping animals inside is possible. If the magic fails to replicate this, then it is the low level magic, Item Box”
“Alright, I got it”

As Ryouma-sama said that, he started concentrating again. Because it’s a difficult magic, far more complex than Warp, Ryouma-sama is desperately trying to grasp the feeling of the magic.

Ryouma-sama tried to use Dimension Home but, even after several tries, all that came out was an empty hole. During that time I would let Ryouma-sama know that it’s a failure and once again, Ryouma-sam will concentrate, try again, and fail.

Repeating that, Ryouma-sama began to soak in sweat, but despite this, Ryouma-sama’s concentration wasn’t broken. And then, from time to time, while taking a break, Ryouma-sama would practice. Like this, we passed an hour, a second, a third, and finally a fourth. When the fourth hour struck, Ryouma-sama chanted as if he was whispering

“… ‘Dimension Home’ …”

At that moment, Ryouma-sama managed to create a white hole that is connected to an empty space with Dimension Home.

“Congratulations. Ryouma-sama has also succeeded with Dimension Home”
“Yes! Thank you so much! Like this I’ll be able to put the slimes inside and carry them with me!”

“I’m happy to have been of help to Ryouma-sama. Also, if the space of this space that Ryouma-sama had created just now were to be too narrow, it is possible to increase the size of a new space at the cost of a significant amount of magic power. In such a case, please remember, that a black empty hole means a failure, and a white hole means success.”
“Understood”
“Well then, let’s return to where the Ojousama and the others are, since it’s already gotten quite dark”
“Eh……? Ah!? Time flew by quite fast, huh?”

Looks like he didn’t notice it.

“It’s because Ryouma-sama was focused. Well then, let’s go. ‘Warp’ “

Today, we will be beginning the operation to clean the latrine pits. The lookouts for today are Miya-san, Jeff-san and the dragonewt, Asagi-san.

Asagi-san talks like someone you’d find in a samurai play. I asked him about it and it seems that his ancestor is the disciple of an other-worlder. Story says, that despite being human he possessed a body that wouldn’t lose even to a dragonewt and was an accomplished swordsman. That other-worlder’s manner of speaking and name was inherited by the dragonewt who became his disciple and was passed on for generations to come.

“Before I open the door, please dip the hand towel into this before covering your face with it.”

As I said that I gave the order to the Cleaner Slimes to spit out some deodorization liquid into the container I prepared.

“What is that?”
“It’s the Cleaner Slime’s deodorization liquid. It’s not harmful to your body and will thin out the bad smell.”
“I see.”

The other three, understanding, dipped the hand towel into the deodorization liquid and covered their nose and mouth with it.

“Well then, I’ll be opening it.”

And then, I opened the door…

“I’m off–…”
“Ugu! …… bleeeeargh …”

As I tried to say goodbye, Asagi-san suddenly threw up.
“Are you ok?”
“Sorry… when you opened the door I prepared myself for the stench, but nothing came. So I thought it wasn’t anything special and slid the towel a bit… my bad. The Dragonewt’s nose is on the same level as the Beastmen’s, you see.”

Ah, so it was something like that, yesterday I was also like that at first.

“Well it can’t be helped. Even I, who is a human, found it so unbearable that it even went to my eyes. If I didn’t have my slimes I wouldn’t have been able to endure it either. I’ll leave the deodorization liquid here so please use it freely. Well then, I’ll be off now.”

As I said that I went inside. Just like the latrine pit yesterday, the situation here is also pretty bad.

Before I started cleaning I thought to use Identify first on the virus. At that, this came out:

Idake Virus (Alt. Hugging Virus): Reproduces on excrement and is the virus responsible for the Idake disease. Once infected, the Idake disease will break out within 10 hours.
Symptoms: Fever, cold, vertigo, numbness of limbs, paralysis of the entire body, confusion, and cardiac arrest.
Prognostic symptoms: either the limbs or the whole body will remain paralyzed.
Source of infection: Oral
Weakness: Heat and dryness

So there really was a dangerous virus!
I ended up getting rid of it immediately yesterday so I didn’t get to use Identify on it. Good thing though, that I did use Identify within yesterday. Like that I was able to provide useful information to the guild about this.

Since I’ve already identified it, I have no use for the filth anymore. Just like yesterday, I’ll have the Scavenger Slimes take care of it.

Speaking of which, because of the Scavenge Slimes’ splitting yesterday, they ended up numbering over 1000. When I had them fuse into one, it became a King Scavenger Slime.

Finally a King Slime has come out. If I increase the numbers of the slimes again there may still be another transformation but right now the number is still too few.
King Scavenger Slime x1
Skills

I don’t know if it’s because it’s still only at lv 1 but the speed is still slower compared to yesterday’s Scavenger Slime’s eating speed at 730 individual slimes. Although if you look at it from the perspective that there’s only one slime eating, it is quite fast.

If I can make the Scavenger Slimes split again and have 2 King Slimes, then I could leave the two sides to the King and leave the center to the normal Scavenger Slimes. Since their bodies are so big that they can reach the ceiling, if I do that I won’t even need to use magic and my life will be really easy.

Well, going back to the topic.

The work today finished 2 hours earlier compared to yesterday because the slimes’ number doubled. All in all I finished the work here in 3 hours, and then just like yesterday I used Cleaning, and then went back outside.

“Something the matter?”
“The job here is already over so please confirm that I’m clean and then we’ll go straight to the next one.”
“It’s already over, nya?”
“Didn’t you need to take a whole day for a pit?”

Eh? Ah! Oh yeah, I remember they got the info about me needing one day to clean one pit. So I guess they thought I would take the whole day for one just like yesterday.

“Actually after I finished the job yesterday the Scavenger Slimes began to show signs of splitting, so I had them split and contracted them while inside the latrine pits. Because of that I took more time than I should have. In actuality I only really need 5 hours to clean one pit, but since the number of the slimes had already doubled, that time’s become even shorter.”
“The number doubled? But even then it wouldn’t be that many right? Does it eat that fast?”

Now that I think about it, these guys don’t know about the composition of the slimes, huh?

“Now that I think about it I haven’t mentioned anything about the slimes, huh? This slime is normally this small because of the compression skill, but in actuality it’s actually a high class scavenger slime called the King Scavenger Slime. Do you know about the Big Slime?”
“Ahh, I know. It’s a big slime, right?”
“A Big Slime is the combination of many slimes of the same kind. So when you see one of those, what you are actually seeing is a lump of many slimes.”

As I said that I had the Scavenger Slime split into 20 parts.

“Nya!?”
“Wow, seriously?”
“This is…”
“Since the slimes didn’t seem to have been researched all that much, the number of people who know about this include only me and those that I have taught. Since I’ve always researched slimes I talked like something like this was common sense, my apologies.”
“It’s fine as long as you’re able to do your work. However, how many Scavenger Slimes do you have gathered here?”
“1464”
“One thousand?”
“You have that many?”
“Yes, in order to become a King Scavenger Slime, the minimum number required is 1000 Scavenger Slimes. Incidentally, anything from 100 to 500 slimes will end up as a Big Slime, and between 500 and 1000 will end up as a Huge Slime.”
“I see… if that’s the case then I can understand how you’re able to do it so fast”

After my explanation we went to the next latrine pit, cleaned up, and then repeated the same for the rest of the pits.

3 Days Later

~Side Ryouma~

This one’s the last. I haven’t slept a wink in these three days.

Right after I finish one pit, I would go out and find that the lookout’s been changed. Seeing them, we’d chat for a bit and then I’d immediately start to work on the next one without getting any rest.

There was one time that I was surprised though. After finishing my work, when I came out I saw Sebasu-san waiting for me. Since he knew that I had a tendency to forget to eat when I’m focused on something, he brought a light meal for me to eat. I actually did forget about it, so I was really grateful.

Of course the other 9 lookouts also supported me.

The schedule went like this, from afternoon to evening, Jeff-san, Miya-san, and Asagi-san. Then from evening to morning, Wereanna-san, Mizeria-san, Syria-san. And then from morning to afternoon the ones in charge are, Gordon-san, Jell-kun, and Raypin-san. They were all good people.

The Scavenger Slimes split again and its numbers ended up at 3033. I had them fuse at 1011 each, and with 3 King Scavenger Slimes side by sides, with the combination of Enlarge and Overeating, they were able to easily clean the walls and the ceiling. Their skill levels also increased. Their current status are:

King Scavenger Slime x3
Skills

Cleaning, Deodorization, Eat Filth’s levels all increased because of the operation here. And then for some reason the Physical Attack Resistance also levelled up. Were the slimes rubbing their bodies against the walls the entire time? Or maybe they were bumping against other slimes? I don’t know, but in any case the higher the level the better.

Well it took some time but now the job is done, so I guess I’ll head out.

“Is it over?”
“Yes, it’s done.”
“Good job! With this everything’s done.”
“I thought you’d end up taking a rest half way through but you actually really did do it in one go.”
“Well I did rest during mealtime.”
“Well that’s true. Oh yeah, Raypin-san please check that Ryouma is clean.”
“Umu, leave it to this great one…………… There doesn’t seem to be any problems. Clothes, belongings, surroundings, everything is clean. All that’s left is to report to the guild.”
“Thank you very much. Then, shall we go?”
“Wait a moment, this great one shall take you there. ‘Warp’.”

Raypin-san used the mid-distance movement magic, Warp, and sent me to the entrance of the guild. Raypin-san is a scholar magician and became an adventurer for the sake of researching and observing magical beasts. He showed great interest to my Cleaner Slime and Scavenger Slime, and valued the results of my slime research highly. Although he may use words that seem arrogant, he is a really caring person.

When we entered the guild, the receptionist lady immediately went to the Guild Master’s room.

“Is it done, Ryouma?”
“Yes, I’ve cleaned all the 30 latrine pits of the community toilet. It’s safe now.”
“I see! That’s good… great! Today, everyone should go home and rest! I’ll go inform the others that the job is done. And then come here to the guild tomorrow, I’ll hand out your payments.”

“Understood, please excuse… oh right, Guild Master?”
“What?”
“Do you know the Idake Disease?”
“Idake Disease? ……….. no. Well, I was never really that informed about things like that. In any case, what about it?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just that when I used Identify on the filth in the latrine pit, that’s the name of the disease that came out. I know its danger and symptoms, but I don’t know exactly how dangerous it is.”

“I see… well in the meantime, it’s safe right?”
“Yes, we have already successfully dealt with it.”
“Then it’s fine. I’ll go check about that disease called Idake too but, regardless, you should hurry up and go home, you haven’t slept a wink right?”
“That’s true. In that case, please excuse me”

As I said that, I went back to the lodging. As for the other three, it seems they did their own things to pass the time.

“Welcome home! Ryouma-san!” – Elia
“Welcome home, Ryouma-kun.” – Madam
“Welcome home” – Rheinhart
“Looks like you came back safe. That’s good.” –Rheinbach
“Welcome home, Ryouma-sama” – Sebasu-san
“Please allow me to carry your things?” – maid
“Have you had your meal?” – maid
(either Aro-ne or Lilian)

I was welcomed by Elia and the rest. ……ah…… since when was it that I was greeted…………was it when my mother died? No, I was greeted by Elia so many times, yet why is it that this feeling is…………

“Ryouma-kun, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No……my body is fine, I just remembered something from the past……!”

Family……that’s right…… it’s similar, the feelings this people give…………………back then, without being able to do well in my work, day after day I would be exhausted, I would look for work, and without finding, I’d be depressed…………during times like that, there was always one person that would welcome me home……it was my mother……

“Ryouma-san!? What’s wrong!?”

When Elia said that, I noticed something. I’m crying. Without knowing it, tears have already started to come out from my eyes.

“Ahh……sorry, I’m alright. I just remembered my family for a bit. Being surrounded by everyone like this……even though you don’t resemble each other at all……”

My mother is half Chinese and Japanese. Although she wasn’t bad looking, there were times when she didn’t really look all that great. She was ok. But, to actually be reminded of her by these beautiful people, their faces are so different, and yet…

As I was thinking of stupid things like that, all of the sudden the Madam hugged me. Elia embraced my arms, and Rheinhart-san put his hand on my shoulder. I felt Rheinbach-sama pat me on the head, and I noticed Sebasu-san and the two maids were looking at me warmly.

After that they took care of me, fed me, prepared the bath for me, and afterwards tuck me to sleep. Yes, just like this, I fell sound asleep and retired for the day.

Since morning today, there are 8 people, men and women, gathered in the meeting room of the Adventurer’s guild.

“Hey, Wereanna, so your party also came”
“Jeff, looks like you too… Why do you think we were called today”
“Don’t know. The others don’t know either. It doesn’t seem like we have any common denominators, not in our tribe, age, or even in our ranks. Don’t have any clue on what basis we’ve been chosen so we’ve been talking about it. How about you, do you have any ideas? It’s only you guys who were called as a party, you know?”
“I don’t know either. The only thing common in my party is that we’re all female members of the beastman tribe. But I don’t think that’s got anything do with it, right?”
“Yeah. Since I’m a guy, and I’m also a human. We also have two other humans here, a dwarf, and even a dragonewt. So tribe and gender shouldn’t have been a part of their criterion.”

As they were discussing, another female beastman entered the room.

“Good morning~. Nya? Wereanna, Mizeria, and also Syria, nya? You guys were also called?”
“Miya, you were also called?”
“That’s right nya. After I came back from my mission yesterday, the receptionist told me to come here today nya. To think that you guys would also actually come, who knew? Nya.”

“Me? Oh hey, hasn’t your smell gotten better? Did you finally move out of that trashy house?”
“Even though, you wouldn’t listen to me no matter how many times I told you to move out of that house.”
“Did you finally reach your limit?”

“Wrong, nya. I’m still living in that house, even until today nya. Even if it’s like that I still bought it nya. If I don’t live in it, it will be a waste nya.”
“Then, how come your smell’s gotten better?”
“Actually, yesterday, someone finally took the request to clean my house again. It was a kid, nya. And that kid managed to clean up my house, nya.”

“That stinky hell hole? He cleaned it up?”
“I was also surprised nya. He actually cleaned that basement without even taking 2 hours, and even blocked the hole in the wall, nya. He cleaned it up with magic, and even made the room sparkling clean, nya”

“That’s amazing, what kind of guy was it?”
“Looked like a rookie kid, nya. Was probably under thirteen years old, and was carrying a big basket made out of wood and vines on his back, nya.”
“Ha? Under 13 years old with a big basket? Isn’t that the guy called Ryouma?”
“Right, nya! He certainly called himself that, nya”
“You knew that guy?”

“The day before yesterday, when he came back from his work, the old man called him. He made a face that looked like he had no idea why he was being called, so I told him it’s just the old man being nosy. That kid’s really polite.”
“True, he’s certainly a polite kid, nya”

While they were talking another person entered the room. It was Ryouma. When Miya saw that, she exclaimed.

“Excuse me. Is–“
“Ah! The kid nya!”
“Miya-san? Miya-san and Jeff-san was also here, huh?”
“Hey, it’s me from the other day. So you were also called huh? Good timing, we were just talking about you”
“About me?”

“Nice to meet you, you’re Ryouma, right? I am Wereanna of the Dog Man Tribe. I’ve been a longtime acquaintance, and was also a former party member. I was really shocked when I heard you were able to clean Miya’s house, you know? It’s amazing you were able to clean that house.”
“It’s fine that she bought the house but with the walls crumbling and being in that state… you saw it right? For a member of the beastman tribe that possesses good nose something like that was painful, and so we tried recommending her several times to move out but she wouldn’t listen… ah, by the way I’m Mizeria. Best regards.”
“And I’m Syria of the Rabbit Beastman Tribe. I look forward to working with you.”

“I’m Ryouma Takebayashi. I also look forward to working you all.”
“These three are members of the former party I was in, nya. Because the smell of that house permeated my body, it was quite difficult for the members of the party especially for Wereanna, who was a member of the Dog Beastman Tribe, and since I didn’t want to give up the house I had to leave. And then some, nya”

“Well Miya is sometimes stubborn…”
“She wouldn’t listen no matter what anyone said”
“You really did well to live there for 5 years”
“To live there for 5 years, that’s quite something, huh?”

Ryouma made a speechless face. And then at that Jeff asked Ryouma.

“By the way, the basket you had with you the other day, you also brought it with you today, right? What’s in it?”
“Inside this is my Slave Monster. I am a Slave Magic User after all”
“Oh? So you were a Slave Magic User. What are you raising?”
“Several types of slimes. I’m still an apprentice. Slimes are quite slow so it’s faster to carry them on my back through my basket and run during times when we need to hurry. And it’s also not good to scare people so…”
“I see~”

As we were talking, the Guild Master entered the room.

“Good, looks like everyone has gathered. Take your seats”

At those words everyone sat.

“Well then, I’ll start explaining the reason why I called you all out here today. But before that I need you all to make an oath that not a word of what we will be talking about here will leak outside. If there’s someone who can’t do that, then please leave the meeting room. I should also inform you now that you don’t have to take the mission after hearing my explanation. Just don’t leak the details of the conversation outside, aside from that even if you refuse the mission, I won’t mind. There won’t be any fine.”

Hearing those words, everyone nodded without hesistation.

“Good. Well then to start off with, let’s talk about what criterion I called you guys here. The first is that I can trust you guys to some degree, second, a tight mouth, and last, that you all possess the Disease Resist Skill. You guys have it, right?”

“Disease Resist Skill? Well, yeah I have it. Old man, you should know about it that I’m a former resident of the slums. As long as one lives there, getting anyone could get a skill level of 1 or 2. Well mine’s at 5, though.”
The next to respond was Wereanna
“We also have it since we once caught an infectious disease from one of the towns we were working in”
“Fortunately, we were able to survive and come back. As a result we managed to gain the skill”
“If I’m correct, everyone’s level 3, right?”
“I’m level 4 now, nya. I don’t really like saying it myself but, it’s because I live at that trashy house, nya”

After that a veteran looking Dwarf guessed the contents of the topic for the meeting today. When a young adventurer heard what he said, he panickedly exclaimed.

“If you’re talking about Disease Resistance then, is it an epidemic?”
“An outbreak!?”
“Calm down Shale. Just as Gordon had assumed, it is certainly about that. Only, it hasn’t spread yet.”
“Yet, meaning, one or two sick people had caught it?”
“No, we just confirmed that there’s a breeding ground for it. It doesn’t mean someone’s already been infected. The one who found the breeding ground is that Ryouma over there.”

At those words everyone looked at Ryouma simultaneously. And then the Guild Master, Wogan, explained about the Scavenger Slime, the information, and basis on why we know there to be an infectious disease.

“… So because the Scavenger Slime’s Disease Resist Skill level increased from 5 to 7, although really even at only level 6 it is already not possible to actually completely resist it.

The request this time is to stop this epidemic before it starts to spread. Moreover, if news of this were to leak out to the townspeople, it will cause great panic to the people, so please keep this a secret.”

“Our job is to deal with the epidemic, so in other words cleaning the latrine pits right?”
“No, you nine won’t be doing that. The only one who will go to clean the latrine pits is just Ryouma”
“Wait a minute! You plan to make the kid deal with that alone? Isn’t that absurd? Kids also catch diseases more easily than adults. It’s too dangerous.”
“To begin with, isn’t it impossible to clean the latrine pits of the town with only one person?”

“I also that but this is for the best. Besides Ryouma had already managed to clean one of the latrine pits yesterday with his slimes, so it is possible.

And also the highest level of Disease Resist skill you guys possess is 5, which is Jeff’s. Even at level 6 of Disease Resistance, the risk of getting the disease is still high.

With that in mind Ryouma who has a Disease Resistance of level 7, is the one at least risk of catching the disease. Moreover, he also has Stronger Vitality Lv3, Super Healing Lv3, and Stronger Endurance Lv6. Even if he were to catch the disease, his prospects for surviving is far higher than anyone else in this room.”

At those words the nine people were shocked and looked at Ryouma. And then Syria asked Wogan a question.

“I understand that he’s the most suitable person. But then if you were to leave everything to him, then what will we have left to do?”
“Although Ryouma will be taking care of the process of sanitization, It is vital that we work in shifts to ensure that nobody comes near the area as he works.
To be absolutely sure, I called you guys who possessed Disease Resistance. And after that for those who can use the neutral magic, Identify, please confirm that Ryouma won’t bring the virus with him when he goes out after finishing the job.”
“Is there any need to have 9 look outs?”
“Well according to Ryouma it will take a few days of working continuously day and night. Ryouma also has Sleep Resistance level 7 so it won’t be a problem for him, and naturally, I’ve confirmed this in his status board”

“I understand, that’s why we have to look out alternatively. Ryouma, is it really ok for you to do this?”
“There’s no problem since its normal for me to work continuously for a few days. Rather I think it’s a rather easy role”
“I see”
“I’ll give you guys 10 minutes. This mission is in a sense more dangerous than subjugating monsters. There’s no obligation and there’s also no penalty for not accepting, so think well on whether to accept this mission or not”

As Wogan said that, he left the room along with Ryouma, whose participation was already decided.

“Haa… what to do?”

At those words, the dwarf adventurer called Gordon replied.

“I’m joining them. After all, this is the town I was born and raised in and I also have a lot of people I know here, so I can’t run away.”

After him, the next to declare his participation was the dragonewt adventurer.

“This one will also accept. A plague is a threat, and this one has yet to stop one”

Afterwards the ones declaring their participation came one after another.

“While its true epidemics are bad but even so, it’s not like we can just push it on that kid, right?”
“Exactly, and first of all, our job is only to be a lookout. The one doing the most difficult job is that guy. So there’s no way I could run here”

Or so, Wereanna and Jeff declared. After which, the conversation continued until Ryouma and Wogan finally returned. From the members present in the meeting room, the number of people participating is 9, all of them declared their participation.

After that Wogan also taught to them the knowledge Ryouma shared to him regarding diseases, a knowledge that originally came from Earth but is currently believed to be from Ryouma’s grandmother, and then distributed their share of work.

During that time, Ryouma changed to his worker clothes and then went ahead to the latrine pits, since he really stood out in those clothes.

Moreover with several adventurers following behind him, being suspicious can’t be helped.

Ryouma met up with the first look outs in front of the latrine pits, and then went inside to start the operation. 

Changed Appraisal -> Identify
Changed Ability to eat bad food -> Eat Filth

Volume 1 Chapter 14

~Side Ryouma~

I put the things I bought into my item box, went back to our lodging and started working.

First off, I rubbed the Sticky Liquid of the Sticky Slime on the surface of the cloth, and then through a combination of the basic Wind Magic, Breeze, and the basic fire magic, Fire, used the magic, Dryer, to dry a large number of waterproof cloths.

Like this the afternoon passed. When it comes to managing the magic power, it’s easy if it’s just the same attribute, but it becomes difficult when different magic attributes are being combined.

In the past when I made a mistake controlling Dryer, the wind of Breeze mixed with Fire and created an amazing blaze. In that way I was somehow able to fire off an attack magic, Flame Thrower but, if I do something like that here, it won’t be funny.

Next, I had the Sticky Slime spit me some threads, and then wound it on that unwound spool of thread I bought. The strength of the Sticky Slime’s thread depends on the ratio of the Sticky Liquid to the Hardening Liquid. So it’s quite easy to change the strength of the thread to match one’s goal.

If one sets the ratio of Sticky Liquid to Hardening Liquid as 7:3, then the thread will become a pretty and soft sewing thread. At 6:4 it becomes a robust thread. At 5:5 it becomes a kind of thread that can be used in traps because of its elasticity, and possesses strength that will break when animals and people were to pull on it. At 4:6 it becomes a lethal string that can be used to strangle animals and people.

In this past when I went to check the strength of the 4:6 thread. I set up several strands of it between two trees and lured the Black Bear there. The Black Bear was only able to endure once and small incisions could be seen on the Black Bear’s body.

At that time I thought that depending on the usage, this thread could become a horrifying trap, so I agitatedly put it in the back of my head. I mostly haven’t used it since encountering the goblins. 

Going back to the topic

After completely spooling the 6:4 robust thread, what’s next is cutting the waterproof cloth. So I cut and divided the waterproof cloth into several parts.

What I want to make、 is the jumpsuit and the waders (waterproof pants) from my previous world. Starting tomorrow I’m going to be cleaning the latrine pits, and even if I left it to the Scavenger Slimes, and even if the Cleaner Slimes could clean me, I still don’t want to go there in my normal clothes. So I figured I should prepare beforehand.

After finishing the pseudo-waders, I heard someone knocking on my door.

“Ryouma-sama, I have heard that you have returned but how are you doing?”

It was Sebasu-san so I hurriedly opened the door.

“I’m here”
“Is everything ok?”
“Yes, there’s nothing wrong in particular”
“According to the servants, Ryouma-sama went out in the morning, came back in the afternoon, and without having lunch, have isolated himself here all this time”

Ah… now that I think about it, I didn’t have lunch, huh?

“I’m sorry, I was a bit overzealous with my work and forgot about lunch… did I make you guys worry?”
“If it’s alright please show your face to everyone. Especially to the madam and the Ojousama. And also, if it’s something like sewing then Ryouma-sama could do that in the Madam’s room and the 2 maids could even help out”

Perfect. I was just wondering how I could try to move the conversation to that direction. I toss the tools and the cloths into my item box, and go to the room of the Duke’s Family along with my Slimes.

As soon as I got to the room, Elia and the Madam jumped at me.

“Are you alright!? Nothing happened!?”
“Ryouma-kun! Are you alright? You’re not hurt?”
“Now, now, you two, please calm down.”
“Ryouma-kun won’t be able to talk if you press him like that you know?” 

“My apologies for making you worry. There are no problems in particular, I just became caught up with my work and forgot to have my meal”
The madam heaved a sigh of relief,
“I see, that’s good”
“And I thought something had happened”, pouted the Ojousama.
“Ho, ho, ho, isn’t it good that nothing had happened?” chuckled, Rheinbach-sama.
“What work are you talking about?”
“It’s sewing. I made some clothes for doing some janitorial work.”

As I said that, I took out the tools from my item box and showed it to them.
Rheinbach-sama looked at it scrutinizingly and said.

“Fumu… by the looks of things you also applied the waterproofing treatment on these, huh?”
“Yes, I started working on these, as soon I got back and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon. After that are these things which I’m still making.”
“Why did you suddenly start making those things?” inquired Rheinbach-sama.

Hearing that, I explained what happened today while sewing.

“… and so I ended up accepting that janitorial request. Since It’d also be troublesome if diseases were to start spreading around, so I want to get started as soon as possible”
“Mu…”
“I understand your reason, and I’m also grateful to know this. The public office of this town didn’t mention anything like this… we may have almost been tricked. Sebasu” said Rheinhart-san as he called Sebasu-sean.
“Yes”
“Go out into the town and gather some information on whether the public office really did what was mentioned just now. If it’s true then the administrative expenses should have gone down this year. However, according to the report today, it hasn’t been changed. So there’s a possibility that someone’s taking advantage of the decrease in the mining rate of the mine and is embezzling funds”
“Understood”

As Sebasu-san said that, he left the room.

“Ryouma-kun, thank you. Because of you we may actually end up uncovering a conspiracy.”
“Umu. I could forgive simply embezzling, but embezzling the money that should be used for the townspeople and harming them is not something I can forgive. In the first place we have already decided on how much to pay the people living in the slums decades ago. That they would actually try to bargain it down, unforgivable! Wasting my efforts…”

“Rheinbach-sama’s efforts?”
The one who responded was the madam,
“In order to help out the people living in the slums, in the past my father-in-law went through great pains to establish those people living in the slums as the ones in charge of cleaning the community toilet”

Hearing the madam’s words, Rheinbach-sama continued,
“In the past I notified the prefectural governors of all the towns and made them construct facilities. And being unable to believe the words that the people of the slum would be employed, I had to go several times all the way to the management of the slum and negotiate. In the end it took 30 years to give all the jobs relating to construction to them. That’s why, when I think that all that effort is being put to waste, I can’t help but find it mortifying”

Rheinhart-san hearing his father’s frustration spoke
“Dad was once famous for being a good feudal lord. There were many nobles who came to study the management of territory. That’s why, if this really is true, then it won’t be forgiven. Even if other’s forgive it, the Jamil Household will not forgive it”

Rheinbart-sama looked at me and spoke again with a hint of gratefulness on his face.
“Ryouma-kun, truly, thank you. I’m glad we were able to get wind of this information while we were here. At the very least we were able to confirm that something is amiss. Besides if everything went exactly as we had planned for it to go, this kind of request shouldn’t have come out.

“You’re welcome”
“Umu, let’s have the maids help you out with making those clothes. Aro-ne, Lilian, please help him out.”
The two maids replied synchronously
“Understood”

With the maids about to help me out, I explained to them what we will be doing. The gloves were assigned to Lilian-san, and the jumpsuit, to Aro-ne-san. I started to knit the cord that will be used for a variety of things but as soon as Aro-ne-san and Lilian-san saw the threads they asked me.

“Ryouma-sama, what kind of thread is this? I’ve never seen such a thin, robust, smoth, and pretty thread”
“Ahh… This is a Sticky Slime’s thread?”
“Do Slimes spit out threads!?”
“Just Sticky Slimes, and also, it’s probably only my Sticky Slime. I wonder if I could create something out of the Sticky Liquid and the Hardening Liquid, so I tried mixing them up and ended up with that thread, and then I wondered whether the Slime will also be able to do the same thing, so I had the Slimes try it out and it seems they were able to. It was especially convenient when making clothes in the forest.”

After I said that, I called the Big Slime over and had spit some thread.

“See, it can spit out thread in this way. Moreover you can modify how strong the thread is by changing the ratio of the two kinds of liquid.”

After showing the two maids, several sizes of threads, the two maids ended up wanting to buy some of the threads.

“I couldn’t possibly do that. I’m already imposing on you like this, so if you want some threads, I’ll make as much as you want.”

When they heard that, the two were greatly overjoyed. Apparently, despite having served the Household of the Duke for a long time and making countless clothes, Aro-ne-san has never seen a thread this good. Well since I’ve always seen synthetic fibers back in Earth, I never really noticed.

Afterwards, Rheinhart-san decided with me, to start selling the rain gears along with this thread. As we continued to converse, I found out that the previous feudal lord, Rheinbach-sama, conducted large scale maintenances on the villages and owns and because of that, the towns of the Jamil Duchy were famous for being number one in terms of cleanliness, and were even famous amongst the neighboring countries.

And in order to further prosper the towns that Rheinhart-san’s father maintained, he thought of spurring the businesses in the region.

It seems that the Slime products that I unintentionally developed were very attractive to him. He bowed his head down,  and said let’s work together for a long time, and then I nodded as well and said please take care of me.

Since the people of the Jamil Household are really nice, I also wanted to work with them.

As we continued to talk like that, I finished making my clothes. And there didn’t seem to be any problems on the size when I tried wearing it but…

Putting on the gloves, I put my hands through the sleeves, and wrapped the cord I made around the only open space on the jumpsuit I’m wearing, which would be my wrist, thereby blocking anything dirty from going in. With this I am completely waterproofed, up and down all over, and I even secured the shoes I’m wearing with the cord I made. Seeing me, everyone mentioned that I looked strange.

However, from the perspective of using them as work clothes, the value is certainly high. And although it’s still not decided, Rheinhart-san mentioned that we might also sell this.

The Next Day

Having with me the set of worker clothes I made yesterday and with the Slimes with me, I let everyone know that I’ll be going out.

“I’ll be going”
“Good luck”
“Please take care, Ryouma-san”
“Do you best, ok?”
“We’ll also do our part here and there”

Having been sent off by everyone, I went to the guild.

“Good morning”
“Ara, it’s the kid from yesterday. It was Ryouma-kun, right? You came”
“Yes, I want to accept a request…”
“Un, I heard about it. By the way thanks, ok? For taking this request. We were really troubled about it”

“Well then, please complete the legalities”
“Yes, ye~s… alright this is ok. Take this request document, and go to the people from the West District, ok? And also, this is the key for the Latrine pits, don’t lose it alright?”
“Understood. Well then, please excuse me”
“Take care”

I left the guild and arrived at the western most part of the town where the entrance to the latrine pit is. I wear the jumpsuit and the pseudo-waders, and try to go through the entrance but instead I immediately close the door without entering. You understand the reason, right? A Latrine pit that has been left for 5 months, it’s bound to have a horrifying smell.

The moment that smell wafted to my nose, I cried a bit. But, the Scavengers looked ok, so I had them go in first, had them split, and ordered them to deal with it.

I also asked for help from the Cleaner Slimes and had them soak a hand towel I had with me with deodorization liquid, which I put on my mouth, to deal with the smell.

It also gets to my eyes so I had the Cleaner Slime go on top of my head, and have him cover my eyes like a goggle. The Cleaner Slimes’ body has high transparency so I was able to go forward without any problems. Cleaner Slime’s are quite useful.

Having gone inside completely, there were some stairs inside. Going down that was a huge subterranean tunnel. In the center of that tunnel were a huge amount of filth accumulating on both sides. The Scavenger Slimes crowded together and did their best to deal with it. As for me I washed off the filth sticking to the roof and the walls with the magic, Mist Wash, and then heated the sticking water to disinfect it with my original Electric Magic, Range.

It was a bit too dirty so I wanted to make it cleaner somehow, but from the looks of things I succeeded. I check it out with the skill, “Identify” and,

From

Unclean Ceiling
A Ceiling Stuck With Filth Here and There

To

Stone Ceiling

Looks I was able to successfully clean　the roof of the community toilet’s latrine pit after disinfecting it through cleaning and heating.

The information I got changed from an unclean ceiling to a stone ceiling. After that, I took a look at the detailed information and it looks like the disinfection was a success. … But, I have always wondered, where is this information coming from? Well, since no incorrect information has come out yet, I guess its fine, it is quite convenient at times like this.

In the end I was able to clean one pit and it took me around 5 hours, but, I took another 3 hours after that.

Because of today and yesterday, the Scavenger Slimes have eaten a lot and have gotten a lot of nourishments, so I had already planned to have them split since I knew about that as an effect of the Slave Monster Contract. Hence, in order to keep them from the eyes of other people, I had the Slimes spilt here. Anyhow there’s another 29 pits like this one.

The end result of the splitting was 1464. Before splitting it was at 730 so one of them split twice and ended up as 4 bodies.

After that I took a look at the skills of the Slime, at which I broke out into a cold sweat.

Old Skills:

The others are fine, there’s no problem with them. But you know… for Disease Resist to increase, it’s necessary for there to be a factor that will cause a disease, you know? In other words… this is a breeding place of diseases!!!

No, do you actually understand? This is hard to say because a place where filth is collected is bound to be a breeding ground for diseases. But you know… the Madam had previously mentioned that the Disease Resist of level 5 is at a level that can’t be reached unless one goes through a life threatening disease.

And it’s from that level that it suddenly went up twice, that’s completely at the level of an epidemic virus!

Was it that bad here… or how about the others!? Bad, bad bad bad… If I don’t immediately let them know of this… or wait, before that we need to disinfect ourselves ASAP! It won’t be funny I went out carelessly and the virus spread!

As I thought that, I went in front of the entrance and check the status of me and the Slimes with Identify… OK, looks like there’s no diseases.

I went out, then had the Cleaner Slimes clean everything, the box, the Slimes, my entire body, and the box the Slimes are going to enter. After that I had the Cleaner and Scavenger Slimes completely clean the area around the place I walked. I checked everything with the neutral magic, Identify, including my belongings, myself, and the Slimes. I confirmed that I didn’t get information like “Dirty” or “Virus”. Fortunately, everything was “Clean”, looks like the Cleaner Slimes’ and the Scavenger Slimes’ Cleaning was effective. I lock the entrance, and just in case I blocked it with barrier magic and then hurried to the guild.

I caught quite a lot of attention until I got to the guild because I wasn’t able to change my outfit. But, that’s really not the time to be talking about things like that. I just want to inform the Guild Master and the Duke’s Family about the situation at hand as soon as possible.

I thought that as I ran, and when I got near the guild, I noticed. At this rate a bad rumor of an epidemic might spread inside the guild, if it’s poorly handled it might become a huge problem. So I guess I should just go in calmly like a young adventurer who had just finished his job…

As I thought that, I started walking instead, calmed myself down and went into the guild.

Going inside the guild in a strange outfit, I caught a lot of attention. There were plenty of guys point their fingers at me and laughing. However, I ignored those things and went to the counter of the receptions. I don’t have the luxury to mind, I’m already at my limit just not showing my impatience.

“Excuse me”
“Ara, Ryouma-kun… wh-what’s up with that? That strange outfit”
“Clothes for cleaning! How is it? It’s not cool but it’s easy to move around in and there’s no need to worry about the dirt, since even inside mud or the middle of a swamp, its hard to be dirtied while wearing this you know?”
“Certainly, that’s true…”

The people around me nodded as they thought “certainly”, looks like there were also people that were quite interested.

“By the way, after completing the job today, I want to report to the Guild Master but, is that ok?”
“Eh? To the Guild Master?”
“Could you please ask the Guild Master? I have something I want to talk to him about.”
“Is that so? Well ok… I’ll try asking but he’s with a guest right now so you might have to wait”
“I understand, thank you”

As the receptionist lady said that, she went inside. After a while the receptionist lady came back and said this,

“Ryouma-kun, he said it’s OK. Go in.”

Looks like I’ll be able to meet him immediately, I have good luck. However there’s a warning from the receptionist lady before I went in.

“Right now, there’s some really amazing people inside the Guild Master’s room so don’t be rude, ok? There probably won’t be a problem with the way Ryouma-kun talks, but just in case.”
“Thank you very much, I’ll be careful”

Reaching the room of the Guild Master, the receptionist lady knocked and called out.

“Pardon my intrusion, I’ ve brought Ryouma-kun”
“Enter”

Following the instruction of the Guild Master’s voice, I entered the room. When I entered the people in there were the Guild Master, the 4 members of the Household of Jamil, the 2 maids and Sebasu-san.

“Ryouma-kun, thank you for your hard work today”
“Why is… everyone here?”
“Well we wanted to hear what we heard from Ryouma yesterday from the Gulid Master”
“I see…”

It’s unexpected but this is good.

“Well? What’s up?”
“There’s something I want to talk about that needs to be kept secret”
“Did something happen? And also what’s up with that outfit. Your basket, yesterday, aside, since I met you three days ago, hasn’t your outfit been getting weirder and weirder?”

“This are clothes made specifically for cleaning. Since it’s specifically made for its purpose, please don’t mind its’ appearance much… Today, I cleaned the latrine pits of the community toilet.”
“Ah, I talked about that with you yesterday, so I know. And what’s up?”

“The method I use to clean is through Water Magic and my Slave Monster, the Scavenger Slime. The Scavenger Slime is a slime that likes to eat the dung and rotten flesh of animals and possesses the Cleaning Skill. Because of this I am able to get rid of the filth.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that kind of slime… well, in any case, I understand that you were able to clean it with that method”
“The main topic is from here. Filth is obviously dirty, and so it’s expected to be a breeding ground for diseases. And so in order to eat that, the Scavenger Slime possesses Disease Resist Skill. And also, since yesterday my Scavenger Slilme had possessed a Resist Skill level of 5.. but when I finished the mission today, after confirming it, the skill level had risen to 7”
“What!?”
“Is that true!?”

“It’s true. It can be assumed that inside that latrine pit is an infectious disease that can raise the Disease Resist Skill level from 5 to 7. Fortunately, because I was able to notice that, I had the Cleaner Slime, another slime similar to the Scavenger Slime that possesses the Cleaning Skill, eat all the dirt, and confirmed that we were all clean with the Identify Skill, and then went here.

In the same way I also had the area surrounding the entrance be cleaned by the slimes and then confirmed it with Identify. After cleaning up, I locked the door and just to be safe I put up a barrier with barrier magic, sealing it”
“I see, good job. But for a plague to spread out from inside that…”

“Guild Master. Fortunately, my Slimes can deal with the infectious disease with its Cleaning Skill. And so, I will continue this job, but I want no one else to enter the pits until I finish cleaning. And just to be safe, could I ask for someone to keep watch to make sure that no one will go in?”
“That’s a given. But you, you know that there’s an infectious disease, and you still feel like cleaning?”
Hearing that, even the Madam added on.
“Isn’t it enough if only the Slimes were the ones to clean? Ryouma-kun can give orders to the Slimes even from a distance, right?”
“It’s dangerous to deal with infectious diseases!”
“The public office will provide people who will take responsibility so…”

Everyone tried to stop me but I can’t have that, because there is something I can do. Knowing something and yet leaving it to others is painful for my heart.

“Unfortunately, it’s not possible to completely clean it with just slimes. The filths clump up, and stick themselves to the walls and to the ceiling. Unless I wash them off with Water Magic, the slimes won’t be able to eat them. It’s not properly dealt with, it will spread again.

Thank you for worrying about me but please let me do it. If a large number of people were to recklessly go inside, the possibility that an infected person will go out goes higher, and it will become easier for the disease to spread outside.

With that point in mind, with me, alone, and the slimes we are able to deal with it. And also, if it’s me it will be fine… Of course, it’s fine to let anyone else do it, but, I am most probably the safest and fastest choice”

As I said that, I bring out my status board and allow five of my skills to be seen.

• Disease Resist Lv7
• Sleep Resist Lv7
• Stronger Vitality Lv3
• Super Healing Lv3
• Stronger Endurance Lv6

When everyone saw that, they were shocked. Especially, the Guild Master.

“Wha–!?”
“Disease Resist Level 7, with this it should be confirmed that the chance of me being in danger is far lower than anyone else

Furthermore, even if I were to fall to the virus, with the Stronger Vitality Lv3, and the Super Healing Lv3, it will be harder for me to die compared to the normal person and will be able to recover easily. The Stronger Endurance will also help me out. And with the Sleep Resist Lv7 I will be able to stay awake for a few days.

Because of that I will be able to work quite fast. I believe there is no one else who has a Disease Resist Level higher than me, and at the same time someone who, even if he or she gets sick, will be able to recover. So, what do you think?”

It’s because I’m a cheat, if I don’t use my cheat here, then when will I use my cheat?

At my words, everyone in the room was silent. Looks like they can’t object. But it looks they want to reject it not because of reason but because of their feelings, everyone’s making a face that looks like they swallowed a bug.

The silence continued for a while until Rheinbach-sama spoke up.

“True… there’s no else aside from you that’s more appropriate. We’ll have to you push you into danger but, best regards”

Rheinbach-sama stood up from his chair, and bowed deeply to me.

“Of course”
“Ryouma, leave the selection of the look out to me. I’ll call out people whose mouths are tight and who possess Disease Resist. Let’s do this in a way that won’t cause a huge panic”
“Yes. Fortunately, because the community toilets have been well built, the townspeople haven’t been infected yet. It’s good that we were able to notice it ahead of time”

“If the disease were to spread, it wouldn’t be funny”
“Yes. I thought about it since the Cleaner Slimes who were there the entire time along with the Scavenger Slimes, did not increase their Disease Resist Skill level. And so, I believe it should not be an airborne infection. Once the filth has been dealt with, I believe it will be safe.”
“What is that airborne thing?”

Oh, they don’t have that word? Is it possible their knowledge regarding infectious diseases is lesser than the one on Earth?

“Infectious diseases spread to a large number of people, right? That spread is what you call contagious. And within that contagiousness, there are several ways to which it transports itself from one person to another. One way is through water and food, acting similar to a poison, and spreading this way. Another way is through the air, where upon a person sniffing that air will be infected, that’s what you call air-born infection. In this case, the spread of virus because extremely dangerous as it spreads easily, and eliminating it becomes very difficult.

However in this case, a huge number of Cleaner Slimes that weren’t tasked with removing the filth, did not increase the level of their Resist Disease skill. And as such, it is not an air-born infection and can only spread to a person on direct contact. In this case if someone were to touch the source of infection, and then eat with that hand, then and only then, will the disease spread. With this in mind, as long as the filth is dealt with, then for the meantime there will be no problem.

Thanks to the community toilet, the filth immediately fell into the latrine pits, and so no was able to touch it. After that as long as I take care when going out, it will be possible to deal with it. As I am not a specialist in this matter, the knowledge is half-baked but…”

Well that’s really the case… I’m not a doctor you know? It’s the basic knowledge of someone from Earth…

Still, I’m glad that it’s not air-borne! Even if it’s only my conjecture! I’m really glad that the Scavenger Slimes are here! If the Slimes weren’t here I wouldn’t know how to deal with this, since even if you set it on fire, the smoke might spread the virus, and one needs to prepare a huge amount of disinfectants. To begin with, I haven’t even seen a place that sells disinfectants.

“What do you mean half-baked, after saying that much? I’ve never heard of something like that”
“Ryouma-kun, I also… or rather I believe no one here has ever heard of that. Where did you gain that kind of common sense?”

As expected this world didn’t have this kind of knowledge!

“I studied under my grandma. Grandma researched medicine and was quite familiar with diseases. Although rather than to say I actually studied, it was more like I just listened to her chatter while I was mixing chemicals”

At those words, at least for the meantime, everyone understood.

After that, since the operation will start tomorrow, I went back to our lodging along with the other 4 members of the Jamil Household. As for Sebasu-san and Aro-ne-san they went to gather information. And from what I’ve heard, it would appear that they’ve also moved the guards.

In addition, it can’t be said that there’s no chance of me getting the disease. So I suggested to change lodging to the others but without even taking time to think of it, they firmly rejected my proposal, until the Madam and Elia got mad at me while crying.

They’re really good people. I’m grateful. I’ll also do my best tomorrow. 

The Next Day

~ Side Ryouma ~
This morning Sebasu-san informed me that the members of the Duke’s Family will be going to the office of the prefectural governor to meet him today. So like that I ended up by myself. The madam told me that it’s not good to walk around the town by myself and to stay in the lodging instead, but I can’t do that.

Since I’ve finally been registered to the guild, I figured I’d try to get a request. First off how about a generic herb collection quest?

I drag out of my item box, a basket attached to a wooden rack with shoulder straps that can be worn on my back, specifically made for the purpose of collecting things in the forest. I then put my slime inside that and go to the guild. As I look for the requests available for a G Rank, I find that there are requests to help out with Herb Collection, Sweeping, Moving Houses… etc.

At first I thought of accepting the request to help for collecting herbs but, it seems even if I don’t take it now and just take it once I get the herbs would also be fine. So I can just get a different mission and then get the herbs as I come back.

As I thought that I looked for missions other than herb collecting, and then by chance I found two sheets of written requests that stood out. 

The contents were sweeping the house and cleaning the shared toilet.

The house aside, the shared toilet can be dealt with by the Scavenger Slime and the magic I came up with. Thinking that, I went to the reception and asked about these two requests.

“Excuse me, I have something I want to ask”
“Welcome, what would you like to know?”
“Yes, may I know the specifics of these two requests?”
“Let me see… this request, huh? Hmm… quite a bit of time has passed since these requests has been put up. Basing on the contents alone it may seem like a normal cleaning job but it stinks and it’s dirty so no one wants to do it. And also the size…”
“Is it big?”

“Very much, actually. First off this thing about sweeping the house, well the thing is this person’s house is right next to a dump site. The client’s also unhappy about it but she got it cheap so she just endured it.”

But in these past few months, the wall of the basement separating the house from the dump site collapsed, and so the trash of the dump site ended up falling into the basement. And then because of the smell the family was troubled so they wanted someone to deal with it. But unless the wall is fixed the trash will just keep going in, but then in order to fix the wall, somehow someway you need to do something about the trash so it’s really just walking in circles.

And then there’s this shared toilet… originally the public office should have employed people with slimes but it seems no matter how much the public office tried to pay they got refused. So with no one to pump out the toilet, this request has been left here for 5 months already. There have also been complaints about the smell coming so… they probably won’t be able to keep it under the rug soon…”

“So there were concerns about catching diseases… because of the two cases…”
“Ara, that’s pretty smart of you. Amazing. That’s exactly right, it’s easy to catch diseases in a dirty place. That’s why they want something to be done about it but no one wants to take the request. In the first place, if the office were to pay properly then there’s no way the people with slimes would refuse. Because the places where they can work are few, so it’s hard to imagine them picking their jobs since they’re desperate in trying to make a living.”
“Specifically, how big are these two cases?”
“The house has a 200 sqm basement, and as for the common toilets, there are 30 7m-wide, 2km-deep, latrine pits. It’s one pit per job for the common toilet.”

“And the contents of the trash? As for the toilet I think I can figure it out by myself… ”
“Mainly food scraps for the garbage. And aside from that just the wastes from working with wood”

If it’s like that then I guess I can make the Scavenger Slime eat it…

“I see… then can I accept the request of the case regarding the house”
“Eh!? You’re accepting it!?”
“Yes, since I have a magic for cleaning that’s convenient to use. Although because it takes up a lot of magic, there’s not lot of people that use it.”
“So that’s how it is~ then please bring out your guild card. There’s no time limit but if you try to pull out midway you’ll have to pay a fine”
“I understand”

As I said that I left the guild, and went to the house of the client. The house of the client was in the eastern part of the Town of Gimuru. Even inside the residential district there was an area where cheap house were lined up.

I knock on the door of the house… let’s knock one more time… no one’s still coming out… are they out? … I knock one more time but this time I call out as well.

“Hello anyone there! I’m someone from the Adventurer’s Guild who accepted your request to clean up!”

The moment I said that, I heard a sound that said dodododo! And the door was opened forcefully.

“Is it true you came here to clean nya!?”

The one who came out had cat ears on her head and a tail attached to her waist, a woman of the cat man tribe. I knew about them but this is my first time seeing one in the flesh. It’s unfortunate though that my first time meeting with a beast man had to be accompanied by the horrifying stench of food scraps. However as a former Japanese that had worked on the service industry, my smile won’t break!

“Yes, my name is Ryouma Takebayashi and I’ve been dispatched by the Adventurer’s Guild. Is it fine with the client?”
“That’s right nya!? You really came to clean nya! I already gave up nya~!”
“Well then please confirm the request”
“Yes, yes! There’s no mistake nya! I am the client Miya nya! I’m really thankful you came nya!”
“Please do give me your thanks after the request has been fulfilled.”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

What’s up with this guy!? She suddenly cried… wait, what should I do in this situation?

“W–wait! Please calm down, ok?”
“I’m sorry nya… I’m happy… because all the adventurers that had come here seemed really reluctant and kept complaining… and everyone stopped and went home midway nya… there were also people who couldn’t bear the smell as soon as they got to the front door and went home… even the people who said they’d do it until the end like you also left…”

All the adventurers until now, do try to endure it… there may be diseases, but it won’t be at the entrance, right?

“Then, I want to start as soon as possible, the place I’m to work at is the basement, right?”
“That’s right nya. But, what do you plan to do nya?”
“I heard that the trash is made up food scraps and remnants of wood. In that case I have a convenient magic I can use.”
“Eh, really nya?”
“Yes, the consumption of magic power is high so not a lot of people use it. And besides I also have my slave monster.”

“You were a Slave Magic User nya? Well to be honest as long as it ends up being clean, anything is fine nya. Then please take care of it quickly nya”
“Understood. Just to be sure, Miya-san doesn’t having anything important in the basement right?”
“None nya, to begin with the basement wasn’t even used as a storage room nya. And even if there was, considering it’s buried inside that trash, might as well throw it away nya.”

“Then in that case I’ll finish this quickly, and completely dispose of everything in the basement. This will be fine, yes?”
“Yes nya. Please take care of it nya”
“Then please allow me to enter. Where’s the entrance to the basement?”
“Over here nya”

Miya-san brought me to a staircase that continued down to the basement. When I went down that staircase, there was a door there which I opened, and what throught that door what lay before me was a large amount of trash and swarms of flies.

I close the door once, and take the Huge Scavenger Slime from that basket rack I equipped a while ago. And then I open the door for a second time, allowing the Huge Scavenger Slime to enter, and then I tell it to separate in my mind.

Immediately the slime began to split and filled the room to the ceiling. At that moment I made the slimes release foul odor. Immediately the flies started gathering to the slimes and were eaten.

From then on I just made the Scavenger Slime do nothing else but eat the food scraps. If one were to see me right now it’d look like I’m just playing hooky, but I put up a barrier magic and have hidden myself.

I’ve mostly made the Scavenger Slimes eat trash for the past 20 minutes or so, but just as the guild had mentioned, the trash just keeps going in through the hole.

From the looks of things this house was built underneath a hill, to add to that there’s a dump site over there, so what happens is the garbage smoothly falls down the hill and ends inside this basement. Who made a house in this kind of place?

Settling this problem is pretty simple, the answer… make the Scavengers eat until it stops! That’s it, only, it might be problematic if the slimes end up going outside so I put up a Barrier of Concealment over at the dumpsite. That way we can’t be seen from the outside and won’t end up causing a commotion. Even if I’m found out, I’m with the Slave Magic Users, so it’ll be fine, but just in case.

In the end it’s been 1 hours since I’ve put the barrier until the trash was completely eaten.

But what’s up with the body of these guys? It’s not like they’re a bunch of gluttons as they’re mileage is pretty good, but, it looks like they can eat whatever’s been given to them.

Well in any case the trash has been rid of but the walls are still dirty. This is where I come in. I make the Scavenger Slimes and Cleaner Slimes shoot out deodorization liquid against the inner wall and the outer wall of the room, and once the smell’s been dealt with I wash it with water.

“Mist Wash”

The water magic, Mist Wash, sprays out compressed water and gets rid of dirt. When I was researching magic in the forest, I tried to reproduce the high pressure water cutting magic, Water Cut, but failed. I noticed that the rock I hit with it was cleaner than before, and remembered there was something like this in my previous world, and so like this I considered it to be useful as a cleaning magic.

This magic can get rid of stubborn dirt. But while this magic is being used, it uses up magic power, so cleaning one room with it would take up quite a bit of magic power. It has the advantage of being able to be used as long as one keeps pouring magic into it, but the consumption is like an incontinent person that keeps pissing magic away. So I think unless one has a lot of magic power, this magic is quite difficult to use.

After washing it I had the Scavenger Slime drink the dirty water.

After washing the wall it became clean. But I’m still concerned about the hole in the wall. It’d be careless to leave it like this, so I might as well somehow close it up.

I make a brick from the earth outside using Create Block, and in the same way using Create Block I trim the hole into a square. And then using the Sticky Hardening Liquid of the Sticky Slime as a substitute for cement I filled in the hole with the brick. Adding in the help of the Slimes, it took us around 20 minutes to finish.

I’ve finished everything I can do so I have the Cleaner Slime clean me up and put the Slimes back into my wooden rack with shoulder straps and then go over to where Miya-san is.

“Miya-san”
“Nya!? Wh–what’s wrong nya? Are you leaving…?”
“Certainly, I’m about to leave. Since everything is already finished.”
“…nya? Eh, what do you mean?”

I brought Miya-san with a question mark floating over her head to the basement. When Miya-san saw the clean basement her mouth opened wide to the point it looked like her jaw was about to fall off.

“Nya… what did you do nya!?”
“Cleaning”
“Amazing nya! It really became clean nya! The trash kept going in so until now no one has managed to clean it nya! Come to think of it the hole’s being filled up too!?”

“Well since trash would go back in, I used Earth Magic and filled it up with the stone I made. There’s some different stones around that might be conspicuous, if it’s ugly I can remove it.”

“No need nya! I don’t mind and, once it’s been cleaned it up I’d been intending to block it. So, rather than saying it’s ugly I’m grateful nya.”
“Is that so, then if that’s the case… can we consider the request to have been completed?”
“Of course nya. Since you’ve managed to clean it up this fast, and even fixed the wall I’ll increase the payment nya!”
“Thank you very much”

I received Miya-san’s sign on the document for the request, and went back to the guild to go report to the receptionist that explained to me the details of the request.

“Excuse me”
“Ara, it’s this morning’s”
“I came to report about the completion of the request”
“Eh? Completion? You didn’t abandon?”
“It was completed”

As I said that I brought out the document for the request.

“You’re right… it was completed, and also the pay was even increased… you’re amazing. No one could complete this request for a long time, you know? Since the smell is thick and no matter how much you clean it up, trash just keeps going through the hole, so people who became downhearted just kept coming one after another, you know? To think that you were able to finish this request without even taking 2 hours…”
“It’s because I had a really convenient magic”
“Oh that’s right, well good job. With this the report for the completion of the request has been completed, the compensation inside is 30 pieces of silver”

“Eh? Isn’t quite a bit much?”
“Well the client, Miya-san, was quite troubled since people kept refusing this request, so she kept increasing the price. Plus she also instructed to increase your remuneration”
“I see, I understand”
“Also, the Guild Master said to call you when you came back”
“The Guild Master?”

When I asked that, the one who answered me wasn’t the woman in front of me but the guy who was doing some legal work on the nearby counter.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing big. It’s just the usual.”
“What do you mean? Ah… I am Ryouma Takebayashi by the way.”
“I’m Jeff Granger. That old man… the guild master, is a nosy guy so, adventurers, especially newbies like you that’s under 13 years old, he usually calls out to try and help. He also helped me out when I was a new comer. He may seem like your run of the mill bandit, but there’s no need to be scared.”
“Is that how it is, thank you very much?”
“Don’t mind it”

Right after that a voice from inside the counter called us. The one who called us was the Guild Master.

“That’s exactly right, so you don’t need to give thanks to that guy”
“Ah, Guild Master”
“Ge! Old man”
“And who looks like a bandit you bastard!”
“Old man anyone who looks at you would say you look like a bandit!”
“Shaddap! I can’t help my face! But I’m not making a crooked face like a bandit!”
“Women and children run while screaming when they meet you in the dead of night, right?”
“Gu… if it’s the people of this town then there’s no problem…”
“Well that’s because everyone has already gotten used to it!”
“Gufuu! … Enough… Ryouma, come”

The Guild Master who was hurt by Jeff’s words put his heart under control, and went back inside while calling me. I gave my greetings to the receptionist lady and Jeff-san and go after the Guild Master.

And then I got to the place where I went to yesterday, the room of the Guild Master.

“Sit somewhere appropriate… or wait, that thing you’re carrying on your back is that a basket? It stands out a lot”
“Please excuse me. Inside this basket is my Slave Monster”
“You were a Slave Magic User? I thought you were surely a hunter”
“Well my Slave Monster is only a Slime and I learned Slave Magic just by observing. I’m a hunter that can use Slave Magic. I have my Sticky Slimes work with my traps and have my Poison Slimes poison my arrows”

Hearing that the Guild Master grinned laughing, and said this.

“You have a pretty dirty combination, huh?”
“You think? It’s a Slime after all.”
“I do it myself so I understand but if it was just a slime then it’d be fine but, a high class race isn’t something to be made light of.

There’s a lot of adventurers who would group slimes and high class slimes together and think they’re weak, but a high class slime with an adventurer that can fight isn’t thought to be weak.

If one gets hit by the acid of a slime, their equipment will go bad. If it ends up as long fight, then when one goes home the new tools will be crumbling. If it’s poison then one’s life will be put in danger, and Sticky Slimes are a pain the ass. If a different magical beast comes while you can’t move, then you’re life’s over.”

“I see… then if that’s the case, work at the Adventurer’s Guild becomes easier, huh? Actually when I registered that I use Slimes at the Tamer Guild, the Branch Manager clearly showed that he wasn’t pleased with me and seemed to have decided that I’d be incompetent”
“From the times I’ve met that guy, I’d say it’s just because that bastard’s pride is too big”
“Yes, since the slime can’t do jobs that require strength, and besides I also went to look for jobs that don’t require strength, today.”
“I see… Right, that talk about work. I heard that you already took a job today, it looks like it went well?”
“Yes, the client was quite pleased and even gave me a bonus.”
“Ho–, that’s pretty good for a first job. I didn’t hear anything except for cleaning, but what kind of job did you take?”
“I cleaned the house of the client called Miya-san”

When the Guild Master heard that he stared at me in wonder.

“You cleaned that girl’s house?”
“Did you know about it?”
“Well yeah… I mean Miya is also an adventurer that lives in this town. She comes quite frequently to the guild so I hear quite a bit.”
“Is that so?”
“But… to actually fulfill that request, you were able to clean up, right?”
“Yes”
“I didn’t think that there would actually be a person that could clean that girl’s house… and, how did you do it?”
“I had a magic that was good for the situation. It’s something that can be used when one has a lot of magic so it’s a rather hard to use magic, and so not a lot of people know about it. “
“Ho–? Then in that case I have another request I’d like you to take…”

Perhaps…

“Is it the request to clean the Town’s shared toilet?”
“Oh so you knew about it?”
“Yes, today, before taking a request, I was wondering which one I should take.”
“Then in that case the talk will be quick. The public office has brought out a cleaning request, and I don’t want the townsmen to say that the reason it wasn’t cleaned was because of the guild. The complaints have been coming in. Speaking of which, originally the cause was because the public office was stingy with bringing out money for the sake of the slum.”

“The receptionist lady also mentioned that, is that true?”
“Aah, it’s true. Did you know that in these past few years, this town’s income has been decreasing?”
“If I’m correct it’s because of the decreasing production rate of the mine, right?”
“Right, there’s also the condition of the mine since last year. And also this year, the abandonment of the mine will be decided. So because of that the income of the town has been quite bad. So the public office has been trying to cut costs but… they’ve been mainly cutting down on the town’s administrative expenses so, the blame’s been shifted on to the people of the town.

The ones that have really been put into a disadvantage is the slum. Until now the public office has been cutting down on the number of employees to manage labor cost but as a result the number of people helping out became insufficient. The work won’t end so they started saying that the people aren’t working properly and won’t pay them properly. There’s been a lot of complaints from the townsmen, so although they want to try hiring the people of the slum’s and add to that, that they gave the reason that the people of the slums won’t work properly and tried hiring them with a salary of next to nothing, in the end even the guys from the slum didn’t want to take it up.

No matter how troubled someone is over money, if the price doesn’t match with the work the people of the slum won’t work. And it’s not like they’re asking for much. It’s just that they can’t have a decent lifestyle so it’s easy for them to get sick. And if they work for almost for free then the risk of getting sick will just get higher.”

I see…

“I understand, I’ll prepare and accept it quickly. If it’s fast then I can take it by tomorrow”
“You’re a big help, thanks. The rewards will be plentiful.”
“Please take care of me”

Incidentally, I should also try talking to Rheinhart-san and the rest, since the one that holds the most influence is them. And besides they’ll also want to know what I did today, so I figured if they knew about this then they’ll know how to respond.

“…what are you thinking?”

Did it show on my face?

“No, today I’m acting by myself so I thought I’d ask a couple of things from the people who accompanied me to register yesterday”

Hearing that, Guild Master grinned laughingly.

As he made that face, I thought about what Jeff-san said, and certainly, it was really like the face a bandit would make…

“You have a pretty good personality, huh? And, do you think you they’ll help?”
“Of course, even just knowing them, I think they’ll help”
“Your basis?”
“Well I don’t really have much to base it on but… I’m an orphan without anywhere to go and lived in the forest. There, I recently met everyone by chance. After that I’ve bothered them quite a bit here and there. They did that much for someone like me whom they barely knew.

Just me aside though, there’s no way they’ll be able to treat everyone in the slums just as they’ve treated me, right? But, I don’t think they’re the kind of people who wouldn’t feel anything knowing the current situation.”
“I see”
“Yes. Well then, I should be going soon, since I want to finish my preparations for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’ll leave it to you. When you get here I’ll immediately tell them to prioritize that request. Well it’s nothing even if it’s prioritized since no one wants to take it.”
“You said it.”

Saying that, I left the room of the Guild Master as I laughed and then went back home. On the way I went to look for some cloths for western clothes and sewing tools. I found some cheap ones and bought a set, then I also bought an empty spool of thread.