The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 2 Chapter 17

The Next Day

“Ugh, ughh… my, my head… It, hurts…” [Rheinhart]

I couldn’t see Elia and the others yesterday, so when I woke up today, I went over to their room to check up on them. There, I saw Rheinhart-san, suffering from a hangover.

“Ara, good morning, Ryouma-kun.” [Madam]
“Good morning, everyone.” [Ryouma]
“Ryouma-kun…” [Rheinhart]
“Looks painful. Should I make you some medicine?” [Ryouma]
“Mind if I ask you to…?” [Rheinhart]
“No problem.” [Ryouma]

Using warp, I went over to different stores to buy the things I need. First, I dropped by at the chemist to buy the ingredients. Then I went to the grocery to look for a fruit. When I found it, I bought it and went back to the lodging. As soon as I got back, I immediately concocted the medicine, and a fruit juice that can be drank with it.

“Here, please drink this. Then afterwards, please drink some water.” [Ryouma]

It would’ve been great if I was able to buy some Japanese persimmons, or some of the clams used for miso soup though. There were plenty of otherworlders in this world, so there should probably be some somewhere, right? I guess I’ll go looking for it next time.

“Th… thanks…I’ll drink it…” [Rheinhart]
“I think it would be better if you don’t drink alcohol too much, Rheinhart-san.” [Ryouma]
“I’m ashamed… yesterday was… ugh… it hurts…” [Rheinhart]

From what I’d gathered after listening to the groaning Rheinhart-san. It would appear that in order to curry favor, some of the people in charge continued to give them liquor and extravagant food, one after another.

The madam may have been fine, but Elia was a different story. Elia had only just recently become able to drink alcohol legally, and was still not used to it. Because of this, she was not able to pace herself.

That’s why there were also people who tried to stop them from making her drink too much, but because some were just too persistent, Rheinhart-san ended up drinking a lot in her place.

When I heard that, I became worried. Elia, are you alright with that kind of stuff? When you grow up, won’t that kind of stuff increase? I’m alright, since I won’t get hangovers or end up dead drunk because of Tekun-sama’s divine protection. And while I don’t know how much alcohol my body can take, I still have my experience from my previous life.

Speaking of which, should I test how much I can drink with this body?

While I was thinking that, I saw Rheinhart-san drink the medicine and the juice. Seeing that, I left the lodging.

It’s a bit late, but I’ll go to store. And then, after checking the store a bit, I left.

Afterwards, I decided to also go to the abandoned mine, since there’s something I wanted to try out. And along the way, also catch some slimes.

But before going, I thought I’d to the guild to get an herb collection quest, since it’s pretty convenient to collect the herbs along the way.

“Hello, Meilin-san.” [Ryouma]
“Ara, Ryouma-kun. Are you here to take a request?” [Meilin]
“Yes, since the employees have already become capable enough to take care of the shop on their own.” [Ryouma]
“To think that you’re actually already able to have your own store and hire people at your age, you’re quite the successful little boy, aren’t you?” [Meilin]
“It’s because my luck is good.” [Ryouma]
“Really? Ah, while this isn’t a request, I think it might be good for you to hear this.” [Meilin]

Not a request?

“What are you talking about?” [Ryouma]
“Actually, there’s a party of five adventurers that came from a different village. But the thing is that party actually came here to bring a rare slime they caught.” [Meilin]

What!?

“Can I hear more regarding that?” [Ryouma]
“Catching a rare beast, or providing information regarding the locations frequented by rare beasts, will normally get one, a sizeable reward from the tamer guild. And so, that party went to the tamer guild with a rare slime they’d caught, and they tried to sell it. But let alone be compensated poorly for the rare slime, their hopes for a transaction weren’t even entertained.

Because they’re still young, it would appear that they weren’t privy to the fact that despite being rare, almost all types of slime aren’t purchased. Your heal slimes are a different story though. Anyway, in the end, that party, having spent a lot of money to come here, looks to be at a complete loss on what to do.” [Meilin]

“In other words, you want me to buy that slime from them?” [Ryouma]
“Exactly. Well, what do you think? Want it?” [Meilin]
“Yes, very much. Could you tell me where that group is staying at?” [Ryouma]
“They’re staying at a cheap inn over at the east district, called Badger Inn. And the name of their group is, ‘Bridge of Scheme’.” [Meilin]
“Thank you very much. I’ll go now.” [Ryouma]

I immediately left the guild, and hurriedly went towards the Badger Inn.

I was able to easily find the Badger Inn, but… from looking outside, it looks really worn out. What is this supposed to be? An abandoned building? Anyway, for the meantime, let’s try to enter…

When I entered the inn, the man at the counter bluntly said this.

“Welcome. You a customer?” [Man]
“I have business with the ‘Bridge of Scheme’ that’s supposed to be staying here. Are they here?” [Ryouma]
“They are.” [Man]

As he said that, he pointed towards the door to the right.

“They’re eating over there at the bar that doubles as a cafeteria. One of them has been drinking since daytime while complaining, so watch yourself.” [Man]
“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]

A bit blunt, but he’s a nice guy. I open the door, and enter the cafeteria. When I got inside, there were only five customers. Seeing that, I immediately understood that they’re the party Meilin was talking about. All of them looked to be around the latter half of their tens.

“Excuse me, are you the members of the party known as, ‘Bridge of Scheme’?” [Ryouma]

“Mn? And you are?” [Adventurer]
“Please excuse the late introduction, my name is Ryouma Takebayashi. I am a slave magic user and an adventurer.” [Ryouma]
“Hah! You? A brat like you is an adventurer?” [Adventurer]
“Stop it, Thayne. Sorry, this guy’s mood is a bit bad…” [Adventurer 2]
“I heard that you brought a rare slime with you, and failed when you tried to sell it to the guild.” [Ryouma]
“Yeah, and what…” [Adventurer 2]
“Hahhh!!? Then what, bitch? You came here to pick a fight!?” [Thayne]

The guy called Thayne, stood up, and walked towards me. But his party members stopped him.

“No, I didn’t come here to pick a fight.” [Ryouma]
“What? Then I guess you came here to make fun of us, huh!? For even a brat like this… fuck this shit!! Yeah, that’s right! We’re morons! We thought we’d make a killing by selling a rare magical beast, and we even went so far as to spend a lot of money just to get here. And in the end we couldn’t even sell it and made a huge loss instead!! But why do we have to be made fun of by a bitch like you!!?” [Thayne]

As Thayne said that, he broke down crying. Looks like he’s completely drunk. A bad case of persecution complex to go with it too.

“Thayne” [Adventurer 2]
“Calm down” [Adventurer 3]
“I’ll take Thayne to the room. He can’t talk like this after all.” [Adventure 4]
“I’ll go too.” [Adventurer 5]

The two men, who I’m unacquainted with, took Thayne to their room.

“Let’s do this again. We are the ‘Bridge of Scheme’, and I’m their leader, Shin.” [Adventurer 2]
“And I’m Gai. Sorry about Thayne.” [Adventurer 3]
“It’s fine.” [Ryouma]
“Thanks. Then, what business do you have with us?” [Shin]

Oh, right. That’s what’s important! Who cares about whether there’s a drunk or not!

“Just as I’ve mentioned a while ago, I would like to purchase the slime.” [Ryouma]
“That slime?” [Shin]
“I’m happy that you want to buy the slime, but why? We were laughed at a lot by the tamer guild, you know?” [Gai]

“It’s because I’m gathering slimes and researching them. Because of that, I want to acquire rare slimes.” [Ryouma]
“You’re gathering slimes? That’s quite odd. But just as Gai had mentioned, we’d be grateful if you took it off our hands.” [Shin]
“So you’ll let me purchase it, then? How much will it be?” [Ryouma]
“Right… how about you decide. After all, we were told by the tamer guild that a price can’t be attached to it, so it’s quite difficult for us to name a price.” [Shin]
“As long as you can pay it, anything’s fine. After all, we’re leaving tomorrow anyway.” [Gai]

“Is that so? Then, could you show me that slime? If it’s one of the slimes I’m already raising, then I’ll buy it cheaply. But if it’s not, then I’ll pay plenty for it.” [Ryouma]
“Alright, that’s fine.” [Shin]
“Give me a sec, I’ll bring it out now.” [Gai]

As Gai said that, he stood up from his seat, and came back with a box after 3 seconds.

“There’s a slime inside this. Carefully take a look.” [Gai]
“Excuse me.” [Ryouma]

I open the lid while being careful, and took a look at the slime in there.

That slime was dark red. And compared to normal slimes, its body was a lot more muddy and closer to liquid. After I’d confirmed that, I closed the lid.

“How is it?” [Shin]
“It’s not one of the slimes I’m raising, so I’ll put a high price on it… Excuse me for asking, but may I know how much you’ve spent until now?” [Ryouma]
“Around 5,000 suits. We cut as much as we could on our expenses, but we couldn’t cut it any further than this.” [Shin]

Hearing that, I took out a small gold coin from my ‘Item Box’.

“Then in that case, I’ll pay double of that for 10,000 suits.” [Ryouma]

When they heard that, the two couldn’t help but be flustered.

“Seriously!?” [Gai]
“Is it really ok to buy a slime for 1 small gold coin?” [Shin]
“Of course. After all, it’s thanks to everyone that I’ll be able to acquire a new slime.” [Ryouma]

There’s nothing regrettable about getting a new slime for 1 small gold coin!

“I, I see… we don’t have any complaints here either.” [Shin]
“Then in that case, please take this.” [Ryouma]

I hand over the small gold coin to Shin-san.

“Certainly.” [Shin]
“Then, I’ll be taking this slime. Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
“The one who should be thanking is us.” [Gai]
“With this, our concerns regarding money will be gone. I guess Thayne should calm down too.” [Shin]

Well, it’s not like I don’t understand how that guy feels… after all, there was also a time where I didn’t have any money, and was extremely worried.

Speaking of which, isn’t there a lucrative request that should be coming out soon?

“By the way, if you want to make some money, then I think it’ll be better if you stay in the town for a bit longer. From what I hear, there’s an outbreak of a certain monster that will occur in a nearby swamp. And apparently. that monster can be sold as ingredients for a high price. As long as you’re able to ignore the stench, then it should reap you plenty of profits.” [Ryouma]
“Really?” [Shin]
“Yes, please confirm it at the guild. And while I’m not privy to the exact date of the outbreak, it should be soon.” [Ryouma]
“You’ve saved us!” [Gai]
“Thanks for the information. Isn’t there anyway we can repay you?” [Shin]

I don’t really need any thanks though. Oh right. Since it’s like this, I could try advertising.

“Then in that case, please come over to my store. As a sideline, I opened up a laundry agency… though it turn out to become way bigger than a sideline.” [Ryouma]
“Laundry agency?” [Shin]
“Yes. You can get whatever clothes that fit into a bag, bought from the store for 1 medium copper coin, washed. Moreover, there’s a special option for adventurers that will clean armor and equipment, for only 1 medium coper coin and 5 small copper coins.” [Ryouma]
“There was such a store?” [Gai]
“Alright. It’s cheap too, so we’ll give it a shot.” [Shin]

“Thank you very much. The store is located at the east district, before the residential area. There’s also a lot of adventurers that come, so if you’re lost, just ask someone and you should find the way.” [Ryouma]
“We’ll definitely go.” [Gai]
“Thanks for everything.” [Shin]

I took the stone box, left the Badger Inn, and then headed towards the abandoned mine. After all, that’s the best place to perform slime research. I also won’t have to pay attention to my surroundings.

The first thing I did when I got to the abandoned mine, was to start the production of the waterproof cloth. Today’s quota is 50 sheets.

I’m here anyway, so if I don’t do it now, it’ll be my loss.

After I finished that, I went to taming the slime. I gently open the lid of the stone box, gazed at the slime, and then contracted it. Afterwards, I used ‘Monster Identify’ on it. At which, this came out.

Bloody Slime
Skills

The problem is its feed. Since its feed is blood, I wonder what I should do.

“I guess I’ll hunt a suitable magical beast.” [Ryouma]

I order the slimes to play by themselves without going too far, then I take the bloody slime with me to go hunting.

When the slimes got my orders, there were dozens of slimes who took out some staff and spears for practice purposes, and started practicing.

… Looks like there were some zealous slimes…

Several slimes assembled and started practicing the staff techniques, spear techniques, and Taijutsu I had taught them. The slimes performed the techniques I thought them, form after form, learning by rote. And then, there were also slimes that sparred against each other. It feels like their movements are gradually becoming better.

While I was thinking that, I went off with the bloody slime to find some prey. And after some time, I found a horn rabbit.

I took out a bow and arrow from my ‘Item Box’, then with one hit, I felled the horn rabbit. Afterwards, I went over to the corpse of the horn rabbit, then I let the bloody slime eat. When the bloody slime got my order, it slid closer to the horn rabbit’s corpse, and then it began to suck the blood coming from the wound.

Bloodsucking, huh? Well, there’re also living beings that sucked blood back in Earth. Like, mosquitoes or fleas… Come to think of it, there was also a bird that drank blood, right? I guess it feels something like that…!?

While I was observing the bloody slime, I tried to form a conjecture regarding its ecology. But while I was doing that, the bloody slime, whose body was already closer to liquid than other slimes, made its body even more like liquid, then it entered the horn rabbit’s body.

“It entered the body through the wound?” [Ryouma]

Unexpected…

To start off with, the bloody slime’s body was already not sticky, making it different from the other slimes. But now it started to become even less muddy as it became silky like liquid. And like that, it entered the blood vessels of the horned rabbit, and stuck itself to the blood as it sucked it.

“This nature is again quite different as opposed as to the other slimes. There was actually a slime like this.” [Ryouma]

While I was being shocked by the bloody slime’s behavior, the bloody slime went out from inside the horn rabbit’s body… Its color was dark red, as if someone had just blown out blood or something. It’s a little ghastly.

After I confirmed that the bloody slime had fully gotten out, I used ‘Identify’ on the corpse of the horn rabbit.

How is it?

Corpse of the horn rabbit.
It is possible to extract the horn, the meat, and the pelt.
Because it was felled in one shot by the nock of an arrow, the horn and the pelt have received little damage, and are thus, considered a high quality commodity.
It has also had its blood drained as soon as it was killed, causing the foul smell to decrease. Because of this, the meat is considered to be a high quality commodity.

I get the horn and the pelt, but what’s up with the meat? Drain? Is it referring to the bloody slime’s ‘Bloodsucking’? It’s that, right? I can’t think of anything else aside from that. But while it’s good that it’s a high class commodity, it doesn’t have any diseases, right?

As I thought that, I used ‘Identify’ another time to look for diseases. Seeing that there were none, I was relieved.

As an adventurer and as a hunter, I think this ability is really convenient.

When I got back to the mine, I took apart the horn rabbit’s body. When I tried cooking and eating it, I found out that its stench had really gone down, and has become really delicious. The stench disappearing might also have something to do with its ‘Deodorization’ skill.

… Does this mean that in order to make a slime evolve into a bloody slime, I’ll have to make it drink blood?

“Then I guess, I’ll have to gather some blood… but how? It’s not like I could go harvest a huge amount of beasts and magical beasts from around here…” [Ryouma]

If I mobilize the slimes, then I should be able to gather a significant amount. But then, the ecosystem here might be affected. And I’ll also end up ruining other adventurer’s jobs.

“Oh, I got it! I should try talking to Zeke-san.” [Ryouma]

Zeke-san is a butcher. Since it seems he also buys meat from adventurers, it might be possible to have him drain and put aside some blood for me. I should talk to him when I get back.

After that, I went back to the abandoned mine. At which, I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to capture some slimes.

So I went around looking for some slimes. And in the end, I was able to catch 3 from the tunnels.

After I had tamed them, the cloths still weren’t finished drying. So I decided to try out an experiment.