When I took a bite, a meat with tingling seasoning that wasn’t from herb or salt filled my mouth.
Sugar and spices are expensive, so street food have a tendency to be salty, but this one is different… It’s delicious!!
“It’s delicious!” [Ryouma]
“Right? It’s sold by that cart over there. They use a little seasoning on it, so it’s a bit expensive, but it’s really good. There’s a plaza up ahead. Why don’t we take a seat there and enjoy these skewered meat?” [Jeff]
I followed Jeff-san and entered into a byway. After a while, we got to the plaza and sat ourselves in one of the benches that surrounded the well. The area seemed to resemble a park.
“Speaking of which, you just opened your store and you already feel like opening another one?” [Jeff]
“The guild master of the merchant guild and my employees told me to think about it, but it’s not like we’re putting one up immediately. There’s a lot of problems we need to solve first…” [Ryouma]
“What? You have something you’re troubled with?” [Jeff]
“The branch store we’re putting up will be situated in another town, so we’ll either have to hire more monster tamers or I’ll have to regularly travel between the two towns. My store needs someone who can manage the slimes, you see.” [Ryouma]
“How’s that a problem? Just get some from the tamer guild.” [Jeff]
“That’s one option, but apparently, slime specialists aren’t a thing. Slimes are considered beginner monsters and most people drop them for another as soon as they can. We also had an issue with some ruffians just a few days ago… Our store’s bouncers dealt with them, but because of that we really need to pick out our employees carefully.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, I bit into my skewered meat. The way the tingling hot taste brought out the taste of the meat made for a really delicious meal.
After hearing my problem, Jeff-san offered me a solution.
“I have an idea.” [Jeff]
“Really?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah! I can’t help with business stuff, but if it’s people you’re looking for, then I’m your man. If you can’t rely on the tamers guild, then just get someone from the slums. What do you think?” [Jeff]
“The slums?” [Ryouma]
“That’s right. The slum people may be poor, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. Just look at me. I used to be from the slums, but I’m working as an adventurer, right now, ain’t I?
I know a couple of monster tamers that you might find useful.
Also, there are plenty of jobs available in this town, so while there are poor people, there are very few who’ve been driven so far that that they had to commit a crime. There are a lot of decent people in the slums. But more than anything else, their sense of camaraderie is strong.
Unless you do something like drive down their salary like those government guys did for the latrine pits, the slum people won’t betray you. After all, they also want a reliable source of income that isn’t too hard. So, if you’re looking, you can hire anytime. As for trust, well, that’s something you build.” [Jeff]
Is this what they mean by ‘the scales fell off from your eyes’? [1]
Apparently, the guild was more of an agency, so as long as you have a contact, then it doesn’t really matter. I can just look for my people on my own and then hire them through the tamer guild or the merchants guild.
Doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Reinbach-sama also hired the slum people to clean the latrine pits, so it’s not like they can’t be hired at all. There’s also a chance I might be able to find someone I can trust…
“Anyway, that’s one option to consider. If you feel like hiring someone, then I’ll help you look. My face still works around the slums, you know?” [Jeff]
“Thank you. I’ll consider it.” [Ryouma]
After that Jeff-san stood up and left.
I thanked him for the skewered meat, then I went to the abandoned mines.
[1] – Means to see the light or to see the truth.
I’ve already gotten used to using dimension magic, so I was there in the blink of an eye.
I was able to make 50 waterproof cloths last time, so this time, I’ll try and go for 70.
Once that’s done, I’ll go train.
The sticky, poison, acid, and scavenger slimes can fight, but it seems, the bloody slime doesn’t have any talent in fighting.
It’s body is a lot more liquid than normal, so its attacks have barely any effect. It doesn’t have any other ways to attack either. On the other hand, it is quite mobile, so it’s the fastest among the slimes, but I’m still not sure whether it would be good at fleeing or not. In any case, I’ll just have to observe it for now.
The metal and iron slimes are hard, but it hasn’t been long since I formed contracts with them, so they can’t move their bodies that well just yet. It’s still impossible for them to turn their bodies into tentacles. If they could do that, then I would have liked to experiment with combining their hardness, but it seems I’ll just have to wait until they’re able to control their body better.
The earth slime adn the dark slime have shown that they can indeed use magic.
The earth slime can use Rock and Break Rock. They can also use a weak spell that resembles earth needle.
The dark slime can use Darkness, a spell that makes the surrounding area darker. It can also use the Dark Ball spell, a spell that releases a ball of darkness.
I rarely use Dark Ball, but it’s supposedly a spell that steals one’s life force. It moves like any other slime, but if I train its magic, I might be able to turn it into a moving gun.
Live combat practice might be needed for it to use attack spells, so it’ll take some time.
I’ve already confirmed that the two earth slimes can use Break Rock, so I’ll go ahead and teach them Create Block.
I did just that, and the two earth slimes were able to learn the spell after just a few tries. I was surprised by how fast they were able to learn, but being fast just means less trouble for me, so that’s good. I’ll have the earth slimes make building stones as part of their training, then I’ll have the stones carried into one of the tunnels. I can probably use them for something later.
I let the dark slime practice on its own. It seemed to be practicing… Dark Ball?
…I don’t know much about dark magic either, so I guess we’ll both have to take our time learning it.
Like that I watched over the slimes and trained myself. It was quite fun.
On top of that, my condition was a lot better today than usual, so my training continued longer than it took for the cloths to dry.
When night came, I went back to the inn and dropped by the Jamil family’s room.
“Welcome, Ryouma-san.” [Elia]
“It’s good to see you.” [Reinbach]
“Did something happen?” [Reinhart]
“I wanted to consult you for something.” [Ryouma]
“Oh? For what?” [Reinhart[
I told them my conversation with Jeff-san, and they also thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
“I don’t mind if you hire the slum people if you think you can trust them. But, you have a trustworthy contact, so there shouldn’t be any problems there.” [Reinbach]
“The more jobs for them the better, so I have no complaints either. Just that it would be best if you hire them through the guild to minimize anything that might be used against you later.” [Reinhart]
“Alright, but I was thinking of having them register at whichever guild they preferred. So, either the merchants guild or the tamers guild. That’s okay, right?” [Ryouma]
“Of course. You may be a monster tamer, but you’re also registered at the merchants guild, so it’s up to you which to pick. No one will hold that against you.” [Elize]
“It might be best if you let both guild masters know beforehand. That should leave less room for issues.” [Sebasu]
Oh, yeah. Alright!
“I’ll drop by the guild tomorrow then.” [Ryouma]
After arriving at a conclusion, I drank black tea and chatted with the family for a while, then I went back to my room.
Tl Note: There is a Vietnamese translation for TMPG that’s ongoing now btw. Please take a look at MeoRung and his friends’ works HERE.
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