By the Grace of the Gods

Today, five chapters were updated simultaneously.

This is the second chapter of the story.

The next day.

After I quickly finished preparing, Ms. Miyabi arrived at just the right time.

“Good morning, Ryoma-han.”

“Good morning, Ms. Miyabi.”

“I was just about to come wake you. You’re up early, huh? Breakfast is ready, so if you’re hungry, please have some.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll eat.”

I was led to the same dining table as yesterday and ate. Everyone else ate quickly. Well, I ate at about the same speed too.

After the meal, Mr. Pioro and Ms. Kurana said they were heading to work.

“Well then, I’ll leave the rest to you, Miyabi.”

“I’ll be sure to help.”

“Leave it to me!”

What was that conversation just now...?

“Ryoma-han, what are you going to do today? You’re not used to this town yet, right? I’ll show you around.”

“That would be great, but is it okay for you to skip work?”

“No problem, no problem. Even though I’m the head of the association’s daughter, I’m only 12, you know? Work is basically nonexistent for me. The time I spent minding the shop was just practice for the future.”

I see. When put that way, it makes sense.

“There’s even a rare 11-year-old in front of me who already owns a shop and is trying to open a branch, but that’s an exception, okay?”

Now that I think about it, that’s true. If she’s going to show me around, I’ll put adventurer work aside for the day and focus on making furniture.

“Then today, I’d like to make furniture for the shop, so could you tell me where I can get lumber?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll take you to a good store.”

With that, Miyabi puffed out her chest proudly. As we stepped outside, Dry, the limule bird I had sent as a courier to Gimul yesterday, flew over.

“Oh.”

“What’s this... eek!?”

Dry landed on my shoulder. It ended up positioned right between me and Miyabi, startling her so much she jumped back. Wow, its tail moved vigorously! I had heard that foxfolk don’t usually express emotions with their tails in their previous lives, but maybe foxfolk in this world do? Then again, Dry hadn’t moved its tail much before, so maybe it just reacted instinctively because it was surprised? Just a spinal reflex, you know. …Anyway, I’ll apologize for scaring her.

“Sorry for startling you. This is my familiar.”

“Familiar? So that’s what it was… But look, what a beautiful magical beast it is.”

“It’s called a limule bird. I had it deliver a letter to a shop in Gimul Town.”

As I explained, I took out the letter from a tube attached to the limule bird’s leg and read it. There was a reply from them. According to it, the letter had arrived in Gimul before their shop closed yesterday. They decided to set off early this morning and expected to arrive in three days — just as planned.

I told Miyabi this, and we resumed walking. After buying lumber at the wood processing shop, we stored it in the dimension home, then headed to my shop.

We chose the workshop for the warehouse. Acid slimes worked on creating parts, while the sticky slimes and I assembled and reinforced furniture like chairs, desks, and shelves using nails and adhesive hardening liquid in an assembly-line style.

Miyabi quietly observed everything. At first I thought she might be bored, but it seemed she wasn’t just watching casually. After a while, she quietly asked,

“Ryoma-han, what are these creatures?”

“They’re slimes, aren’t they?”

“No, no, no! That’s not it. I’ve never seen slimes like these! Why are slimes using tools!?”

“They learned after I taught them. Not just tools — there are even slimes that use staff techniques, spear technique, and body techniques.”

“Really!?”

“Yes.”

I shaved a scrap stick using the polish wheel and handed it to one of the sticky slimes to demonstrate staff techniques.

“…They’re really using a staff.”

“Right?”

“Were slimes always such skilled magical beasts?”

“At first, they were just like the slimes you’re imagining, Miyabi-san, but after repeated training, they became like this.”