chapter 17
[Slime], the most common monster in Anina’s game,
Although they all go by the same name, their power and uniqueness vary.
Some slimes are so weak that they die if they’re stepped on, while others become village chiefs or even the strongest in the world.
Luckily, the slimes in this world are not demon-level slimes but rather weak slimes that would die in a few hits.
They’re weak enough to be defeated by an adult man who is not used to fighting.
However, there is only one reason why mercenaries are hired.
It’s because the slime’s acid dissolves clothes.
Nobles have spare clothes and plenty of money, but commoners don’t.
They don’t have much money or many spare clothes.
So, what if they end up losing their precious clothes while fighting with slimes?
“These troublesome creatures.”
For a moment, he admires the humble yet great nature of slimes.
“Don’t look! Little master!”
Olivia shouts, covering her blushing face with her thin arms to protect her boun
If there were only women, I would have quickly tidied up and gone back, but it’s mostly because I, as a man, am here.
“Troublesome.”
As the clothes that melt on the women disappeared, a slime slowly crawled towards me, and one stuck to my leg.
The socks melted and the shoes melted, but although there was a slightly itchy sensation, there was no lethal ability as rumored.
I tried to shake off the slime, but it had quite a strong adhesive power.
I tried stabbing it with my sword, but it moved as if saying, “Try to catch me!”
“Seriously troublesome.”
Just as I was wondering if there was no way, a good idea came to my mind.
My sword skills are truly the worst.
However, my body movements are as fast as Ellie would acknowledge.
I roughly stabbed the sword into the ground and reached out my hand.
Click~
“Oh. I caught it.”
I simply caught the nucleus of the slime that was teasing me.
The caught nucleus shook as if it was confused.
The slime also shook, but I had enough strength as a 15-year-old to hold on.
“Now, if I destroy this nucleus…”
I tried pounding it with my fist, but it was quite strong.
I thought about stabbing it with my sword and was about to grab the stuck sword when an interesting thought came to my mind.
“Is this nucleus similar to a guardam fruit?”
A guardam fruit that protects its contents with a hard shell.
A slime that is looking at the nucleus with its tough membrane.
Let’s use [Open Shut].
With a snap, the hard nucleus split in half, and the sticky membrane that had been hindering my arm lost its strength and fell to the ground.
If someone who didn’t know saw, they would have thought I succeeded in subjugating the slime, but I didn’t.
Ellie killed one slime as a demonstration.
The moment the slime nucleus split exactly in half, the sticky membrane that had been there instantly lost its moisture and dried up.
In no time, it turned into powder and was blown away by the wind.
But this slime is different.
It still had viscosity and, judging by its resilience, it is still acidic.
“Could it be… it fainted?”
With a quick poke of my finger into the shimmering something inside the slime’s core, it emitted a faint sizzling sound, and the gooey substance rapidly dried up.
“Unbelievable.”
For a knight, it would take several strikes with a sword, and for a novice, it would require multiple blows with a blunt weapon to defeat a slime core. And to discover the peculiar state of fainting!
If I were to report this to the guild, I might become a well-known figure!! But it can’t be helped.
We must remain hidden.
I chuckled softly as I gazed at the sparkling stone in my hand.
“So, this is a mana stone.”
All monsters carry magic in their hearts.
When a monster dies, the gathered magic crystallizes.
These magic crystals, known as mana stones, are essentially drop items, to put it simply.
It’s not like hunting a goblin in a game and suddenly receiving gold or silver coins. Instead, they drop mana stones. You can also naturally obtain goblin teeth, ears, or the weapons they used, but for creatures like slimes that disappear upon defeat, the mana stone drop is everything.
However…
“It’s larger than what Elli showed me.”
Elli had demonstrated by defeating a slime, and the mana stone she handed me was no bigger than a thumbnail.
But the mana stone in my hand, resembling the slime’s core, was slightly smaller than a fist.
It was a clear tenfold difference, just by looking at it.
“Does the size of the mana stone dropped depend on the method of defeat?”
Or maybe the slime I defeated was a stronger one.
As I was pondering various hypotheses in this curious situation, the screams of two women who had finally been stripped naked and were now sitting on the ground, confronting the slime tsunami, woke me up.
The problem was…
“I’ve been stripped too~”
During my brief experiment with the slime, the slimes that had approached unnoticed had completely dissolved my clothing.
“I have returned to my original form!”
Despite feeling embarrassed about the loose pants, work takes priority.
And besides, one is my birth mother and the other is a guardian, right?
Casually boasting about the loose pants, I reached out and grabbed the slime core.
With a swift motion of “[close and open your mouth], I split the core in half, then pierced it with my thumb finger! as punishment.
There are roughly a hundred slimes remaining.
“Shall we move like a machine?”
***
Among monsters, slimes are the weakest.
They are monsters that die instantly when hit with a pebble by children.
They have some resistance to cutting attacks, but even a knight like me can easily subjugate them, as they are the lowest-tier monsters.
I came to the commission site with a light-hearted mindset, but I was surprised by the larger number of slimes than expected.
Slimes are harmless to the human body, but they contain a slight acidity.
There are even villages that intentionally manage them to dispose of trash.
Furthermore, the commission read as follows:
“Massive slime subjugation”
It means they suddenly appeared even though they were originally nonexistent.
“These numbers can never occur naturally.”
Whether I become a lord or a manager here, the handling of the drastically increased slimes that cannot be left unattended was left to mercenaries.
“Tsk. It’s bothersome, but it won’t be bad for the young lord’s growth.”
With my abilities, no matter how many there are, they are ultimately just slimes that will be easily cleared in five minutes.
But the reason we came here is for the young lord’s training.
It may be burdensome to handle alone, but we can only grow significantly by overcoming difficult trials.
“If I can show the young lord my abilities again and help little by little…”
“Uh… Ellie?”
“Yes, milady. What… huh?!”
“When did this happen?!”
A knight never loses focus on the battlefield.
However, while imagining the future of the precious young lord named Diarm, she unconsciously lost her concentration for a brief moment.
The slimes surrounded the three of them for a brief moment.
Thankfully, their goal was slimes.
If they had been surrounded by powerful monsters like werewolves or war orcs, they would have lost their lives, but slimes cannot harm humans.
Even if they did damage, it would be to their clothes…
“Clothes?”
“Oh no! You must not look! My lord!”
The slimes began to melt the lightweight dress of the lady, who was wearing it in a place where no one passed by.
“Damn it! How dare those slimes!”
I also tried to shake off the slime that stuck to me, but there were too many of them, and they melted the clothes at a fast pace.
Furthermore, by my side…
…
“You, you must not look, my lord!”
There is no shame in nudity.
During knight training, there was even training to survive naked.
But if the person next to me is my lord?
“My lord is still young! He should not get familiar with a woman’s exposure! Besides, it’s really embarrassing!!”
Unintentionally, I covered my body with embarrassment and concern.
“Oh no!”
In order to escape from this situation, I had to defeat the slimes, but I unintentionally assumed a posture that allowed their attack.
Thanks to that, the clothes began to melt quickly.
Not long after, both the lady and my clothes had completely melted.
“Oh no!!”
Among the slimes controlled by Yumma, there were also special slimes that entered women through their reproductive organs and back holes, forcibly corrupting them, or so I heard. But fortunately, the ones here are mindless slimes.
They only melt clothes and do not take any other actions.
“I’ll postpone my lord’s training for later, and handle this place myself!”
Suppressing my embarrassment, I drew my sword.
Clang~
I heard a familiar yet unfamiliar sound.
When I turned my head in the direction of the sound, my lord was there.
With something half-split in his hand.
He made a surprised expression and stabbed his finger into the object in his hand with a ‘poof!’
And then.
Swoosh.
The sludge-like slime that had been stretching out began to dry at a rapid speed.
“This, this can’t be true…”
The young master… had subdued the slime…
And he did it with his bare hands…
A highly trained knight can subdue a slime with their bare hands.
That’s right.
A highly trained knight.
But the young master is only 15 years old.
He’s not even a mediocre boy with talent in swordsmanship, let alone training.
Could such a boy have destroyed the core of a slime with the strength of his hands?
No other answer came to mind.
“Could it be that he used that ability?”
How? Why? I don’t know how it works, but it’s an ability to open something.
Did he use that ability on the core of the slime to open the hard shell and pierce the core with his finger?
No other explanation seemed plausible.
“As expected, the young master is amazing!”
To remain so level-headed and use his ability in this difficult situation!
My heart raced again at his mature appearance that was beyond his 15 years!
And then.
“Uh, uh… that… it’s always… impressive…”
As soon as I saw the young master’s exposed lower body melted by the slime, my heart raced like crazy.