By the Grace of the Gods

Today, six episodes are updated simultaneously.

This story is the fourth episode.

I see, since it’s a joint operation with F- and G-rank adventurers, they’re here too.

“Yes! Thank you for your help yesterday!”

“Thank you for your help!”

After the girl who spoke to me first said that, everyone joined in and bowed their heads. People around us looked over, wondering what was going on. Telling them not to look was pointless. There were countless slime familiars who had assisted with the work gathered around me, occupying a corner of the waiting area, so just by being here, we stood out quite a bit.

“Um, what’s this about...?”

I could guess the reason, but their attitudes were very different from yesterday.

“We wanted to thank you for helping us and apologize for our attitude yesterday.”

“Thank you for going out of your way. I’m glad you’re all safe. I’m Ryoma Takebayashi of the Human race. As you can see, these are my familiar slimes.”

This was the third time I met them face to face, but I didn’t even know their names. Since they came to express thanks, I introduced myself, and they nervously introduced themselves in return.

To my surprise, among them were:

Boys:

Beck of the Lesser Ape Tribe, 13 years old.

Luce of the Canine Tribe, 12 years old.

Wist of the Great Ape Tribe, 11 years old.

Girls:

Marta, a Half-Elf, 12 years old.

Finia, a Half-Dwarf, 12 years old.

Loomil of the Canine Tribe, 12 years old.

I had thought there were two beastmen and four humans, but that was wrong.

The two half-breeds looked completely human, and the Great Ape Tribe and Lesser Ape Tribe were confusing!

By the way, Beck of the Lesser Ape Tribe was the shortest one who talked a lot. Unfortunately, due to his height and rough tone, he looked like an arrogant child, but he was actually the eldest and seemed to try to take the lead and stand at the forefront.

As for Wist of the Great Ape Tribe, he was the youngest but the biggest in size. I had thought he was the oldest.

“T-the height is... a racial trait, the adults said...”

This kid also had a shy personality, the complete opposite of yesterday when he stood like a wall. When I asked, I learned that during their adventuring jobs, especially yesterday, he was summoning all his willpower to make sure no one underestimated them. Standing silently and firmly might have made him intimidating for his age.

Great Ape Tribe and Lesser Ape Tribe. Now that I think about it, they do give off a bit of a gorilla and golden snub-nosed monkey vibe... especially their hair colors. It’s rude to say, but now I can’t see them any other way.

Anyway, leaving that aside...

They’re all still kids, but thanks to their racial traits, their physical abilities and mana are outstanding.

Luce and Loomil have the Canine Tribe’s sharp sense of smell and balanced physical abilities. Marta, the Half-Elf, is good at magic. Beck from the Lesser Ape Tribe is nimble and can climb trees effortlessly. Wist from the Great Ape Tribe and Finia, the Half-Dwarf, showed me their strength by gripping my hand with surprising power for children their age.

It’s interesting to compare the characteristics of different races like this. But...

“Impressive, I can really see your superior physical abilities.”

“It’s not impressive.”

“I-I lost to a kid about my age for the first time, big brother.”

“I saw... They lost, but if we’re talking ‘strength’ alone, it’s about the same as adult adventurers. We became adventurers to make use of those strengths. But even if we move better than adults, they earn more, so since Ryoma seemed younger than us, we thought you must be stronger and said those things. We’re truly sorry.”

Having high physical ability is obviously an advantage, but that alone doesn’t guarantee you can do the job well. Even in a single hunt, you have to find the prey, choose your target, pick the method—there’s a lot to do. They haven’t acquired those skills yet. They lack experience.

“I said before I wasn’t bothered by being looked down on. But there are some things I want to ask.”