Published: August 2, 2025
Because the slime experiments were witnessed by the villagers, the perception of me as a slime-loving eccentric spread throughout the village. As a result, on the way back from the beach, every time I passed someone, they would call out to me with nicknames like "slime kid" or "Slime-kun."
I didn’t particularly mind, but somehow I couldn’t accept it.
“I don’t deny liking slimes, but why does that make me a ‘weirdo’? If people knew about the abilities of slimes, wouldn’t they be more interested? The more I learn, the more fascinating they become... Take the poison slime as an example—it’s not just a simple creature that spits poison as everyone thinks. In situations like this time, it can even choose not to use poison and fight with its spear. Depending on the type, they’re diverse, convenient, and useful creatures.”
“No, ordinary poison slimes only use poison, right?”
“That’s the potential of slimes. ...Could it be that people don’t understand because I lack presentation skills?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think that’s it.”
“Most villagers probably remember it now, so it’s good that things finished quickly.”
That’s true.
Reporting, communication, and consultation are important in everything. Not only for defense strategies using familiars, but if participating in the mud salamander hunt with any method other than the existing ones, it’s best to get permission from the adventurer leader and villagers to avoid confusion on site.
Originally, I was supposed to explain things to various representatives, like the adventurer leader and the fishermen, but today, since many people had gathered there, the explanation and agreement went smoothly.
Besides being reminded to ensure the poison slime doesn’t release poison, nothing else was said, and it was agreed that tomorrow’s fishing and hunt, I and my familiars, along with everyone at sikumu’s pier, would be entrusted with defense of the processing plant and its surroundings for the first day.
If tomorrow’s hunt goes well, other adventurers won’t need to worry about the processing plant.
That means their running range will be reduced, making things easier, and they can focus on protecting the fishing results.
“Hm?”
While walking and talking with everyone, Mr. Peyron suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was called.”
He answered Mr. Sain’s question briefly and looked toward the path we just walked.
Following his gaze, I looked back and saw who it was—a boy who looked like a lower elementary school student running toward us.
“Huh? That’s Niki, right?”
“Wait! Slime brother!”
“Eh, do you need something from me?”
That village kid called me, but I had no idea why.
Curious, I took a casual step in that direction.
“Ah!”
“Ryoma-kun, watch out!”
“Huh?”
“—! Here, take this!”
Distracted by Mr. Shin and Mr. Kei’s warning, the boy threw something at me.
The object flew in a parabolic arc. It was small, round, and green. From its muddy, dirty ball-like body extended eight legs fluttering like an octopus.
“Whoa, wait—!?”
I instinctively caught the flying octopus-like creature, but it squirted ink at me.
“Ah, too late...”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, it’s nothing serious.”
“Hey! Niki!”
“You promised not to misbehave around outsiders!”
Seeing me covered in ink, the boy immediately ran away.
“Ah!”
“!?”
Then, from a nearby corner, an old woman was watching us.
“Oh, it’s the grandmother. Did she come chasing after Niki?”
“As expected! Kai-boy, that child came here, huh? Sorry about your clothes, too.”
Since the old woman looked apologetic, I told her it was no problem and used the dimension home.
I summoned the familiar cleaner slime to quickly absorb the ink from my clothes and body.
“Wow... That’s really convenient.”
“Speaking of which, Ryoma also runs a laundry service, right?”
“I forgot about that. Ink from an okta like this isn’t a big deal.”
Mr. Sain and Mr. Peyron chuckled as if recalling something.