Volume 2 - Chapter 3

The Man Picked up by the Gods - Volume 2 Chapter 3

TL Note: For the record the reason I try not to do [sentence] –[name of character speaking] is because it distracts from the immersion. Or so at least someone said. But in this case, there’s too many conversations and I wanna sleep already and not try to rack up my brain on how I can add names without the hyphen. So yeah... enjoy.

Volume 2 Chapter 3

I was with my slimes in a place away from the stagecoaches doing nothing, when Jeff-san and the others called out to me.

“Ryouma, what are you doing in a place like this?” – Jeff

“Aren’t you going home, nya?” – Miya

“Ah, everyone, good job today. As for going home, there’s a lot people crowding over it right now, so I thought I’d take the last ride and spend my time leisurely.” - Ryouma

“You too, huh?” - Jeff

“You too? You mean you guys are also…?” - Ryouma

“We’re also tired, you see? So we don’t really feel like joining in that crowd.” - Mizelia

“Seriously… although we were hired exactly for things like what had happened today, it was still really tough.” - Wereanna

“Today was definitely out of our expectations. To have that many goblins and even have a goblin king come out. We’d normally prepare well before setting off to do a job but this time… While we were fighting, I remembered that story. You know, that story about not letting one’s guard down around weak monsters. “

“Ah, is it that true story of a country that was ruined after being attacked by 100,000 goblins? I remember! I remember! It’s really a miracle that no one died today.” - Shell

There was a story like that!?

“I remember, de aru!” - Raypin

“What is it all of the sudden, old man?” - Jeff

“Ryouma, can you show me that heal slime from before? I’ve always only heard about heal slimes, de aru.” - Raypin

“Alright.” - Ryouma

As I said that, I called the two heal slimes over.

“Here.” - Ryouma

“I’m grateful, de aru. Fumu fumu, the body is white, and its body is quite small even amongst the slimes. I saw it use healing magic with my own eyes… it’s exactly as what I’ve heard. What about its meal? What do you feed it? - Raypin

“Not much actually, since it doesn’t eat anything else aside from water. The cleaner slime also doesn’t normally eat meat, but if you order it to, it will eat. There’s a big difference between the two though. When I thought that it was just a matter of preference, it turned out that the heal slimes really don’t eat anything else except water.” – Ryouma

“Is that true, de aru?” - Raypin

“How does it manage to live on water alone?” - Wereanna

“The heal slime has a skill called photosynthesis. This skill allows the slimes to get the necessary nutrients by bathing under the sunlight. From the looks of things, it’s thanks to this skill, that the slime can live on water alone.” - Ryouma

“There was such a skill, de aru!? Mu mu mu, how curious…” - Raypin

“Is that slime strong?” – Mizelia

“No, it’s ridiculously weak. It has no fighting abilities, and if it fights, it would lose even to a normal slime.” - Ryouma

“That is weak…” - Mizelia

“That’s probably the reason why the heal slimes are so rare. Even if a heal slime were to be born, it would immediately be killed by another beast or monster, and so it becomes extremely rare for people to find it.” - Ryouma

“I understand, de aru. Someone with no strength wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild. So does that mean the heal slime doesn’t have any way of defending itself, de aru?” - Raypin

“Nothing else aside from resistance skills. On top of the healing magic, it also has the strengthen vitality skill. So it can run away while being hit as it heals itself.” - Ryouma

“So all it can do is resist, heal, and run, de aru?” - Raypin

“It’s unexpectedly tough, but with that alone it can’t live in the wilds for long. I think it’s because they understand this themselves, that even if I tell them to do as they please, they won’t separate from me or my other slimes. Well, they can heal me and my slimes as soon as we get hurt, so they’re quite the useful bunch.” - Ryouma

“These kids are completely healers, huh.” - Syria

“Yes. I won’t take them out to fight.” - Ryouma

“I see… you’ve shown me something good, de aru. Thank you, de aru.” - Raypin

“No, if it’s something like this, I don’t mind. After all, it’s quite rare for me to show my research to someone who can understand. Something at this level is not a problem.” - Ryouma

“Umu. Ryouma, if you have anything you want to hear about monsters, then without holding back, please ask me, de aru. I find Ryouma’s discoveries to be very interesting. I truly do not understand what the tamer guild who doesn’t value Ryouma is thinking, de aru.” - Raypin

Hearing that, Asagi-san interjected.

“Ryouma, the tamer guild doesn’t see you in high regard, de gozaru? I have never seen a slave magic user control so many slave monsters, de gozaru. From what I’ve heard the more slave monsters there are, the harder it is to control them. So from that I think Ryouma-kun should be quite an accomplished slave magic user, de gozaru. But…” - Asagi

“Thank you, Asagi-san. However, because of my age and the fact that I’m only controlling slimes, it really can’t be helped that they end up looking down on me.” - Ryouma

“Age has nothing to do with ability, de aru. And also Ryouma has managed to discover these two types of slime, the Cleaner Slime, and the Scavenger Slime, both whose abilities are extremely useful, de aru. For someone to be unable to value that, and not understand the value of these two types of slimes. Such a person could only be called, a fool, de aru.” - Raypin

“I thought those two types were quite strange… are they a new race, nya?” - Miya

“Someone who doesn’t understand the value of the Cleaner Slime and the Scavenger Slime is really an idiot. Even someone like me who can’t be called ‘educated’ can understand the value of these two types. If I could use slave magic, I’d also use these.” - Wereanna

At Wereanna-san’s words, everyone in that place nodded. It seems that because of the latrine pits case and today’s goblin case, everyone can understand the value of the Scavenger Slime and the Cleaner Slime.

Seeing everyone’s reaction, I thought of something.

“If I made a laundromat, I wonder if I’d be able to make enough for a living…” - Ryouma

“Laundromat?”

Looks like I didn’t just think of it, I also said it out loud.

“I thought of it just now. I figured if I announced something like, “Use the cleaner slime and with a low price, you can even get rid of a goblins’ dirt!” to the adventurers, and took care of their laundries for them I would be able to make a living.” - Ryouma

“How cheap?” – Mizelia

“Let’s see… I’ll make a special bag, and for every one thing you put inside it, it would go for 1 small copper coin for the cheaper ones, and 1 medium copper coin for the more expensive ones. What do you think?” - Ryouma

“You would!”

As I said that, everyone exclaimed in unison.

“Ryouma-kun, that job will definitely make a profit! If it’s a goblins’ dirt, then there are people who’d pay even 1 mid copper coin! To provide that kind of service at 1 copper coin, everyone will definitely come!” – Mizelia

“There are people who buy new clothes and throw away their old dirty clothes, when they can’t get rid of a goblin’s dirt. It’s cheaper to pay 1 copper coin compared to buying a new one, and also, with your cleaner slime, the clothes will become as good as new. There’s no way it wouldn’t make a profit.”

“At that price, even people other than adventurers will come. When you think about the time and effort it takes, leaving it to you is faster and more comfortable. In fact, I’d want you to clean my stuff for me starting tomorrow.” - Jeff

“As for me, I’m bad at chores, and once I’m caught up in my research, the chores, especially the laundry becomes neglected, de aru. During that time I’d hire people, but the fees are not something one could scoff at, de aru.” - Raypin

“While in Raypin’s case, he gets charged a premium because his clothes gets too dirty after being neglected for too long… it is true that hiring people is quite expensive. Only nobles and rich people could possibly afford to do something like that, so it’s not worth it, de gozaru. With that in mind, the price Ryouma had proposed just now, would cause even the commoners to cheerfully ask for your service, de gozaru.” – Asagi

Somehow everyone seems to be in really high spirits… it’s something I just thought of but, it seems it’s quite a big deal…

“If you’re doing it for real, then there’s plenty of potential to make a profit. And also we’ll come by as customers and make full use of that laundromat of yours.” - Wereanna

“But why did you suddenly think of something like that?” - Mizelia

Ah, now that I think about it, I haven’t mentioned it, have I?

“Actually, I’ve thought of various things yesterday. And so I decided that I’d be independent.” - Ryouma

“What do you mean?”

“I think everyone knows, but I came to this town along with the duke’s family. And so they took care of me a lot, but recently… I noticed that I’d gotten too spoiled by the good will of the duke. And so I talked to them, refused their aid, and decided to become independent.” – Ryouma

“You refused the duke’s support!?”

“What a waste…”

“Even if I say I refused their support. It’s really only about the financial stuff and lodging. I received a lot of that kind of stuff, but it’s exactly because of that, that I started to become dependent on them, and so I thought I’d focus my mind.” - Ryouma

“But even then, that’s not something you’d normally do, you know? Something like refusing the duke’s support is something that’s normally improbable. To begin with, most don’t have that kind of opportunity.” - Mizelia

“However that kind of thinking is admirable, de gozaru.” - Asagi

“Hahaha… and so from what we’ve discussed, I made a promise to take the contract of one job and to contact them regularly. I’ll also be staying in this town, so because of that, I’ve been looking for different ways on how to make money.

I intend to continue as an adventurer, but on top of the contract I have with the duke, I can’t go too far away from this town. There’s also the off chance where I might end up becoming unable to continue as an adventurer, so in order to prepare for that, I’ve been thinking of several other ways to make money.” - Ryouma

“I see, then that’s fine. Do your best, ok?” - Wereanna

“Since you’ll be remaining here, it seems we’ll be seeing each other a lot. Let’s get along, de aru.” - Raypin

“Same here.” - Ryouma

After that, we continued to chatter about trivial things, and then we went back to the town on the last carriage.

After coming back to the lodging, I was called over to Elia’s room.

“Welcome back.” - Madam

“Ryouma-san, good job today as well.” - Elia

“The job ended early today, huh? Are the people at the mine doing well?” – Rheinhart

“Huh? Haven’t you been informed about it yet?” - Ryouma

“It’s because we were at the public office today, inquiring something about the management. Did anything happen?” - Rheinbach

“Today, we found a goblin village. Seeing that we decided to destroy it… but then it turned out that there was actually a goblin king there and it turned into a huge mess.” - Ryouma

“There was a goblin king!?” - Rheinbach

“Are you alright!?” - Elia

“Fortunately I was only tasked with the mission of preventing the goblins fleeing from escaping, so I’m alright. The others were also quite lucky, so in the end no one died.” - Ryouma

“I see, that’s good…” - Rheinhart

“However, because the nest was big enough to have even a goblin king and its servants, the goblin knights. The goblins that came fleeing to our side numbered 2000. Like this the job today turned out to be quite big, and so after dealing with the corpses, we were told to go home.” - Ryouma

“It’s really quite amazing that no one had died.” - Rheinbach

“In any case, I’m glad you’re alright.” - Madam

“Seeing how hard you worked today, you must be hungry, right? Is there anything you want to eat?” - Rheinhart

“Thank you, I’d love to eat my fill today.”

“The slimes worked hard today as well, right? Should we feed the slimes something too?” - Madam

“Oh, they’ve already eaten their fill today with the goblins. They ate so much so that they can split again tonight, so I think it’s more than enough already.” - Ryouma

“Oh, is that so? Which slimes are going to multiply?” - Madam

“The acid slime, the poison slime, the cleaner slime, and also the sticky slimes will multiply more.” - Ryouma

“They just suddenly decided to multiply, huh?” - Madam

“It’s because they ate so much. It’s not really a bad thing though. After all whichever slime reproduces, my fighting potential will increase, and the production rate of the waterproof cloth and thread will also increase, so it’s not exactly a bad thing. But unfortunately, because of how many there are I’ll end up having to spend quite a bit of magic power to enact the slave monster contract, and that’s quite troubling.”

“There’s so many of them, so it can’t be helped. But please don’t push yourself, ok?” - Madam

“Yes. If it’s too much for a day, then I’ll perform the contract across several days.” - Ryouma

“Right, that’s for the best.” - Madam

After that, I talked to them about what I’ll be doing from now on while we ate. I talked to them about how I plan to continue to live as an adventurer, as well as my thoughts about finding other ways to make money.

After that, I tried asking about how long the duke’s family will be here in the town. After all, I’ve never heard anything about how long they’ll be staying here.

“By the way, how long will you guys be here for? I haven’t been able to ask it until now, so…” - Ryouma

“We didn’t’ tell you? We’ll be staying here until the Grell Frog outbreak ends. Also, we’ll stay here for as long as Elia’s enrollment date will allow. We’ve already finished most of the procedures, and there’s also value in just staying here.” – Rheinbach

Grell Frog. If I’m correct that’s…

“Grell Frog is the magical beast from which the hide used on some armor come from, right?” - Ryouma

“Umu, its hide is definitely used to make armors. On top of that, its guts are also used to make medicine. Every year, around this time, a lot of them come out in the swamps around here.” - Rheinbach

“Halfway from this city towards the abandoned mine, there’s a swamp with red mud. Every year, that’s where the Grell Frogs come out in great numbers. Our goal in staying here, is to bring Elia to that place the moment the Grell Frogs erupt.” - Rheinhart

“Are you going to defeat the Grell Frogs?” - Ryouma

“That’s secondary. We’ll be heading there on foot for the sake of training how to travel。It’s not really a place a carriage can normally go to. Also that place doesn’t have a good environment, so going there is also for the sake of getting used to places with bad environments. As for why it’s bad, it’s because the mud of that swamp releases a really bad odor, and then some.” – Rheinhart

“It’s not all that bad. At the same time as the outbreak of Grell Frogs, the Rimel Birds that feed on the Grell Frogs will also come. The Rimel Bird is a magical beast bird with beautiful blue wings. But not only is its appearance beautiful, even its voice is. It can also fly quite fast, so it’s quite popular. Unfortunately though, it’s quite difficult to catch, so there are very few people who are able to do so. Because of that, it’s very rare to see one. Ryouma-kun, you should take this opportunity to see them.” - Madam

It doesn’t seem to be a scary magical beast. But the fact that it eats Grell Frogs means that it’s a carnivorous bird, right? Speaking of carnivorous birds, the only thing that comes to mind are the crows. But it has color, so I guess it’s a peacock? I don’t know. Yeah, I’m curious. If that bird is coming, then I guess I’m coming to take a look as well.

“I want to see.” - Ryouma

“Then you should come with us.” - Rheinhart

“Then please let me come with you during the Grell Frog Outbreak.” - Ryouma

“Of course! We’ll definitely go together!” - Elia

I promise Elia, and then after eating I come back to my room.

There, I began to let the slimes split and contract them, but halfway through, I ran out of magic power, and so I decided to just continue it tomorrow. I still have some magic potions, but really it’d be a waste.