Published: July 30, 2025
What should I do… I thought about it, but the conclusion came quickly.
I decided to talk. Honestly, for me, the process is more important than the result. I started researching because I was interested in slimes. I enjoyed the process of studying them. The outcome was somewhat irrelevant. And besides, since I had already admitted I knew, it was too late to hide it now.
“It’s alright… The evolution conditions for slimes depend on their diet.
Through their eating habits… they evolve into different species…
If it’s a sticky slime, it evolves into a green caterpillar…
If it’s a poison slime, it evolves into a poison herb…
Each slime has individual preferences, and these determine their evolution path.
If you keep feeding them things they don’t like… their evolution slows down…
And in some cases, they may even die…”
“I see, so those are the conditions for slime evolution?”
The young lady, clearly intrigued, nodded once as I continued.
“If they get good nutrition, they evolve more easily. Feeding them hastens evolution. For selection, we use poison herbs, green caterpillars, and washed animal bones… Slimes gather around these and can become poison slimes, sticky slimes, or acid slimes respectively…”
“What are the slimes you said you couldn’t choose, Ryoma-san?”
“Cleaner slime, scavenger slime, and heal slime. But their abilities are excellent.”
The four members of the Duke’s household exchanged glances, apparently unfamiliar with the two types of slimes besides the heal slime I mentioned.
“What kind of slimes are cleaner slime and scavenger slime?”
“They have skills that specialize in ‘cleaning’ and ‘deodorizing’.”
“Cleaning and deodorizing? I’ve never heard of them.”
“I understand deodorizing, but what about cleaning?”
“…It’s faster if you see for yourself… Please wait a moment.”
I went inside, took a suitable cloth, dipped it in the blood of a rabbit I had just bled in the kitchen, and returned to the room with one cleaner slime.
“Thank you for waiting… This is a cleaner slime. Please take a look…”
“Blood-soaked cloth? What are you going to do with that?”
“Like this.”
I gave instructions in my mind to the cleaner slime beside me. The slime took the cloth I was holding, absorbed it into its body, and started swirling it around its core. I’ve seen this many times, but it always reminds me of a washing machine.
Ten seconds later, the slime spat out the cloth, grabbed it with a tentacle-like extended part of its body, and handed it back to me. I spread it out so everyone could see clearly. The four from the Duke’s household reacted like they had seen something unusual, but the butler and two maids’ eyes gleamed sharply.
“The blood is gone, isn’t it? Also, the color’s changed a bit. Has it dissolved?”
“It was absorbed by the slime. Is that all?”
“No, madam, that’s not all.”
“Arone?”
At the duchess’s word, one of the older maids interrupted—they were apparently named Arone.
“Lord Ryoma, that slime eats ‘dirt,’ correct?”
“Exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Judging from the material of the cloth, the previous cloth was stained not just with blood but with various substances. The current cloth’s color is its original color.
The longer stains are left untreated, the harder they become to remove. That was the state of the cloth earlier. Even if you hand-wash such stubborn stains for a long time, they may not return to the original fabric color. So, the ‘cleaning’ skill is the ability to remove stubborn stains, right?”
“That’s part of it… To be precise… it’s the ability to remove only the dirt…”
I instructed the slime to absorb the cloth from my hand into its body.
“What!?”
“Nothing happened…”
Normal slimes try to digest everything they take in. So everyone in the room tensed, probably thinking my hand would be dissolved. But my right hand remained unharmed, and after five seconds, the slime released it.