Due to my slime experiment being seen by the villagers, I ended up labeled as a Slime-Loving Weirdo in the village. Word spread quickly, and whenever I passed by people on the way back home they would call out to me with names like ‘slime kid’ or ‘slime-kun’.
I don’t particularly hate the name, but I just can’t come to terms with it.
“I won’t deny my love for slimes, but why do I have to be labeled as a weirdo? I’m sure more people would be interested in slimes if they just knew their abilities. Personally, the more I learn about the slimes, the more interesting they become. Let’s take the poison slimes as an example. Most people just see them as simple creatures that release poison, but just as I’ve shown today, they can fight perfectly fine without poison through the employ of spears. Slimes are such useful creatures depending on the variant. Why don’t people get it?” [Ryouma]
“I’m pretty sure a normal poison slime only knows poison.” [Kai]
“That’s exactly why slimes have potential. …If you still don’t get it, then maybe I just don’t have any talent in presenting things to people.” [Ryouma]
“I don’t get it either, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t have anything to do with it.” [Kai]
“In any case, most of the villagers now know your plans. Thanks to that we won’t have to go out of our way to tell them about it and get permission.” [Kei]
That’s true.
Reporting, communicating, and consulting are important in all things. It’s not just because I’m having my familiars join the fray. Any new plan that involves the subjugation of the mud salamander require permission from the leader of the adventurers and the villagers to prevent chaos from spreading out in the fields.
Normally, we would have had to start with the leader of the adventurers and a representative of the fishermen, then go to various places to explain things, but thanks to so many people gathering earlier, we were able to get through the explaining and approval process without a hitch.
Other than reminding me not to let the poison slimes use poison, they didn’t say anything else and agreed to let me, my slimes, and the members of the Wharf of Shikumu to defend the processing plant and its surroundings for a day.
If we do a good job tomorrow, the other adventurers won’t have to bother with the processing plant anymore.
That is to say that the adventurers will have less ground to cover, so they’ll be able to focus more on defending the fishes.
“Hmm?” [Peiron]
As we were talking while walking, Peiron-san suddenly stopped.
“What’s the matter?” [Sein]
“Someone is calling me.” [Peiron]
Peiron-san briefly replied to Sein-san’s question as he turned to the path we came from.
I followed his gaze and turned around, and… Who’s that? There, a boy was noisily running towards us. From his appearance, he looked like he could fit in the lower grades of primary school.
“Hah? Isn’t that Niki?” [Peiron]
“Wait! Slime oniisan!” [Niki]
“Huh? He has business with me?” [Ryouma]
The village boy that was supposedly named Niki called out to me, but I didn’t have an inkling as to why.
Despite that I casually walked toward him.
“Ah!” [Shin]
“Be careful, Ryouma-kun!” [Kei]
“Huh?” [Ryouma]
“—! I’m giving this to you!” [Niki]
As soon as my attention was taken by Shin-san and Kei-san’s warning, the boy threw something at me.
It drew a parabola in the air as it came flying at me. It was small, round, and green. Based on its ball-shaped body that was dirtied with mud and the eight legs in the air, it seemed to be some kind of octopus.
“Oh, uwaah!?’” [Ryouma]
When I received that octopus that came flying out of nowhere, it suddenly spat ink at me.
“Acha, we were too late…” [Shin]
“Are you okay?” [Kei]
“Yes. I wasn’t hurt or anything.” [Ryouma]
“Hey! Niki!” [Kai]
“Didn’t you promise not to play pranks on people from outside!?” [Sein]
When the boy saw me covered in ink, he ran away as fast as he could.
“Ahh!” [???]
“!?” [Ryouma]
Then out of the blue someone cried out. Just when I was wondering what it was this time, I noticed that a grandma was looking at me from the corner of the street.
“Oh, it’s grandma. Were you chasing after Niki?” [Kai]
“I knew it! Little Kai, that kid was here, wasn’t he? Sorry about your clothes, boy.” [Grandma]
The grandma was apologetic, but I told her it was no big deal, and opened my dimension home.
I summoned a cleaner slime I was familiar with and had it suck the ink out of my body and clothes.
“Wow… That’s mighty convenient.” [Grandma]
“Oh yeah, you operated a laundromat, didn’t you?” [Sein]
“I forgot. I guess a mere okuta’s ink is nothing to you then.” [Peiron]
When Sein-san and Peiron-san remembered that, they laughed.
The atmosphere became a little brighter at that. I showed the grandma that my clothes were clean and again reminded her not to worry about it. Only then did the grandma heave a sigh of relief.
“Alright. In that case, I better get going. I have to catch that mischievous kid or who knows what else he’ll do. If he comes here again…” [Grandma]
“At that time, we’ll be sure to catch him.” [Shin]
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