Chapter 39 - Avenger (S) (1/2)

Avenger (S)

When I had said that Kashima Kobato had picked up the cat, I was really thankful.

A few days later, I spoke to Kashima so that I could say my thanks.

But she just looked away awkwardly and left.

That reaction of hers doesn’t seem to indicate that she hated me, not that I particularly minded it.

It’s because Kashima had the impression of an introverted girl.

Even when it’s break time, I have never seen her talking to the boys in our class before.

It’s probably because she didn’t know what to do when I suddenly talked to her.

That’s why she just left silently.

It may unexpected, but it’s possible she’s trying to call out to others from her side.

—It’s not that she hated them, but…

If she was hated by them, then that’s a different story.

Besides, she doesn’t need to hurry at all.

There’s no need for to hurry in making connections with others.

Just relax and take it slow.

That’s also what my uncle’s family had told me, and it had been firmly rooted within me.

I am sitting in the shade of a tree as I’m chewing on a cutlet.

I had just checked my leather bag, when I noticed that the color of the jewel had been reset.

So I decided to take a break and eat some food.

Sitting next to me is the jiggling slime.

I look at the evenly oblong “food” in front of me.

Tonkatsu-style snacks.

A flavor that I had rarely eaten this days.

I remember having eaten this before regularly back in that world.

Its outer coating is moderately crunchy.

The inner contents have a unique chewiness.

If I’m not mistaken, the inside should be made of fish meat?

There’s also the dark brown sauce poured over its surface.

I could taste its deep flavors.

There’s also a bit of sweetness in the saltiness of the sauce.

I could even feel a bit of gracefulness in its fairly crunchy texture.

With the combination of these two, they become irresistible.

My mouth had been occupied by their strong flavors.

Although the amount that I had eaten can’t be said to be that much, I am strangely satisfied.

I took out the green tea from my leather bag and gulped them into my mouth.

My mouth felt completely refreshed after the strong flavors had been washed away.

[Fuuu…]

Is it because I’ve finally reached the outside world?

It’s as if my state of mind is at peace and I could safely consume my food and drinks.

I look at the cutlet in my hand.

Just another mouthful…

[…do you want some?]

I just want to try it.

The slime curiously observed at the cutlet that I had presented to it.

Funyonyooo…

A part of its body protruded out and extended towards my hand.

[Pigi…?]

[Hmm? Are you asking me if you could eat it?]

The color of the slime’s body changed into green.

The yes sign.

[Yeah, of course.]

I brought my hand towards the slime a bit more.

The tip of the protruding slime wrapped around the cutlet in my hand.

The cutlet began flowing into the body of the slime.

Inside the body of the slime, the cutlet began slowly melting.

Fuuuun…

So this is how it eats huh…

[Kyuuuuiiii~ ♪]

The color of the slime’s body turned into pink this time.

It looks like an expression of delight.

It seems that he quite liked it.

I did some inspection with the slime earlier.

It’s an experiment on whether communicating with it is possible.

It seems that the intentions of the words I said are being properly transmitted to it to some extent.

Furthermore, there was now a way for the slime to properly show what it wants to say.

Green means an “affirmative”.

Red means “negative”.

Pink means “it’s friendly” or “it’s delighted”.

For the time being, these three changes are the only things that I had confirmed the meaning of.

There may be other things but I don’t know what they mean.

But, this should be enough for now.

It’s a monster that could express an abundant amount of expression than I had expected.

Its intention could be expressed even if it couldn’t say any words nor show it through its facial expression.

I think I could also understand it better than humans.

Also, this slime is quite a dexterous monster.

I don’t know if I could bring a monster when I will enter a town or village.

This had been troubling me since it came along with me.

However, this problem had been solved almost immediately.

The slime could morph its body into something long and slender, like a rope.

If I keep its body under my robe, I can probably hide it.

[After that… if the town or village I’m going into had no way of detecting the presence of monsters, then this problem seems to have been solved.]

In addition, there is also another advantage of it “hiding” under my cloak.

I stood up.

I instructed the slime to cling unto my body.

The rope-like slime started crawling up from my foot.

I could feel a fluffy feeling on my body as if I’m wearing extra clothing.

Let’s say when it’s snuggling around in the back of your neck.

And then suddenly, the slime would appear there.

[Pigi.]

[Can you seen anything from behind?]

[Piii!]

A protrusion of the slimes extends out in front of my face.

The color had turned to green.

[Affirmative.]

[Okay…]

If there’s something that slipped out of my awareness around my back, this guy would inform me.

Although it’s a bit sudden, but I’ve obtained a new “eye” that watches for my back.

This is the first thing that I’ve obtained that could deal with my problem with blind spots.

[It seems that it was the correct decision when I decided to make you my friend.]

[Pigi ~♪ ]

The slime went back to where it’s resting.

I sat down again.

Actually, there was one thing I want to check out.

I take out “Encyclopedia on the Forbidden Arts”” from my leather bag.

I sat cross-legged as I flipped the page.

The slime also popped out and came to look.

[If I’m right, this should be the page where—]

I remember that time when I first flipped through the book in the ruins.

[Found it.]

<Monster Reinforcement Organization Draft・Experiment Result>

<Slime → PASS>

<First experiment, success>

<Second experiment, success>

<Third experiment, success>

<No signs of any adverse effects on monsters such as aggressiveness had been observed>

There are scribbles like these here that looks like they’re memos.

“Rather, my relationship with the slime seems to have improved. I can’t deny that this slime may have completely gained emotions. I’m troubled. Something woke up within me thanks to the cuteness of the slime.”

[……..]

The Great Sage seems to have awakened something because of that experiment.

[Putting that aside… Monster Enhancer, huh…]

This may improve the abilities of this slime.

I glanced at the slime.

[Speaking of which, do they have the concept of level-up…?]

I would like to know if they could.

However, there’s something that caught my attention.

The Great Sage “dared” to research on these Enhancers.

It may be that he’s relying on Enhancer to increase the ability of a monster because they can’t level up the same way as the Summoned Heroes.

This is possible if you think about it.

That may also be why the Enhancers had been developed.