LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 126.1
Pest Control Is Also A Specialty
“Hey? Roo-chan, what are you doing?”
Yuuri, who had just finished hanging the laundry, muttered in confusion upon seeing Rooks’s actions, moving in a squishy manner across the garden of their hideout. If that were all, it would have been just like usual, but Rooks, perhaps having discovered something, suddenly stretched out and flew, capturing something. Since Yuuri was out of sight, he couldn’t tell what Rooks had caught.
“Kyui?”
At Yuuri’s question, Rooks bounced. While jumping, he didn’t release whatever he had caught. Stretching a part of his body, Rooks skillfully hopped. What he was holding down to the ground was a black object roughly the size of his palm. Simply put, it was a bug.
Yuuri wasn’t particularly good or bad with bugs. However, there was something about the bug Rooks had captured that caught the attention of a handsome young man who usually wouldn’t care much about bugs. It was because the shape seemed somewhat familiar to Yuuri. It was black, larger than he remembered, but still, the Bug, with prominent horns on its head, looked like something that could be called an Bug.
In fact, it resembled the kind of black Bug children admire during summer vacations.
“Huh? A stag beetle?”
“Kyuu?”
“Roo-chan, what’s going on with that? I mean, shouldn’t stag beetles be found in places with lots of trees…?”
Seasonally, it was nearing summer, so there shouldn’t have been any issue, but in Yuuri’s image, stag beetles seemed like creatures you’d find in forests or mountains. So he never expected to find one in the hideout’s garden. Moreover, he couldn’t understand why Rooks was catching it.
Not understanding, Yuuri approached and stretched out his hand carefully.
“Kyukyu!”
“R-Roo-chan?”
Rooks made a sound, seemingly saying “No!” and shook his body, signaling not to touch. Yuuri was taken aback by his familiar magical beast’s protest. While Yuuri stood there stunned, Rooks absorbed the stag beetle-like Bug into his body. There was no time for Yuuri to make a remark.
In his unclear line of sight, Rooks once again stretched part of his body, and a sound like something being slapped echoed. When he looked, once again, Rooks had captured the Bug, and immediately absorbed it in that state.
“…Um, Roo-chan, do you eat Bugs?”
“Kyu.”
“That’s not it? Huh? Then why have you been capturing that Bug over and over again?”
While the conversation continued, Rooks kept capturing the stag beetle-like Bugs and absorbing them with swift movements. Since slimes are omnivores, Yuuri didn’t mind what Rooks ate, thinking it was simply a matter of preference. However, Rooks was shaking his body, signaling that it wasn’t about food. This only confused Yuuri more.
Rooks, for his part, probably didn’t understand why Yuuri was asking such things. He tilted his body in confusion, giving a gesture similar to a human tilting their head. Yuuri, looking up into those round eyes, was a little troubled, unsure of what to do with the ambiguous conversation.
Then, a savior arrived. Or rather, the interpreter appeared.
“What are you doing?”
“Aroru, just in time! I don’t really get what Roo-chan’s doing!”
“Huh? What do you mean you don’t get it…?”
The usual 10-year-old, with his partner the white snake Nadja coiled around his neck, appeared with a puzzled look at Yuuri’s remark. He gave a response that seemed to say, “What are you talking about?” but Yuuri wasn’t bothered by it. The person was Aroru, a bit blunt and cool for his age. It was better not to care about his reactions.
In Aroru’s view, Rooks once again captured the Bug with quick movement. Aroru and Nadja’s gazes locked onto Rooks and the Bug he had caught, and then Aroru spoke.
“Ah, so I hadn’t seen them around recently. Looks like Rooks’s been handling the pest control. Thanks.”
“Kyui.”
“Huh? Pest control? Is this stag beetle-like Bug a pest?”
“It’s not a stag beetle. This one’s called Corrosion Bug.”
“…What, that sounds like a dangerous name.”
Yuuri, who thought it was a beloved stag beetle, now learned that it was something much more dangerous, an Bug from another world. On closer inspection, although it looked like a stag beetle, the mouth part was frighteningly spiked. It was clear it would hurt if bitten. Yuuri was a little disappointed, as he was still, at heart, a boy who admired stag beetles.
Not knowing Yuuri’s sadness, Rooks continued capturing the “stag beetle-like” Bugs, now identified as Corrosion Bug, and absorbing them. As Nadja let out a small “shah” sound in praise of Rooks, both Yuuri and Aroru looked in her direction. For a moment, Aroru watched his familiar and listened to her response.
And then…
“…Nadja, I didn’t hear that we were leaving pest control to Rooks.”
“Huh? Roo-chan was told by Nadja to catch these Corrosion Bug?”
“Kyui! Kyukyu.”
“Well, sure, it could be part of cleaning, but… this isn’t something Rooks should be the only one handling, you know? After all, it was supposed to be our job.”
Sighing, Aroru noticed Nadja turning away, sticking out her red tongue in irritation. Apparently, there was some sort of senior-junior dynamic happening between the two familiars. However, Nadja wasn’t completely slacking off. Between conversations, she spat out something like a vacuum blade from her mouth, taking down the “stag beetle-like” Bug. However, the shredded remnants were absorbed by Rooks, who continued cleaning up.