The next day.
Today I went to the Adventurers Guild by myself. I have my slimes with me, but other than that, I'm alone.
I was told during breakfast this morning that they had to meet the prefectural governor, so I decided go on my own today. The madam said I could just stay at the inn if I didn't want to go alone, but I'd finally registered at the guild, so I decided to take on my first job.
How about starting with a simple herb picking job for safety's sake?
With the basket I made in the forest strapped to my back – there's a slime inside – I took a look at the available G Rank jobs on the bulletin board.
There were all sorts of jobs from picking herbs to cleaning to helping out with moving. It was really interesting.
At first, I was thinking of taking on the herb picking job, but apparently, I could just take it after securing the herbs. In that case, I might as well just do something else and gather the herbs along the way back home.
I searched the bulletin board for another job, and there were 2 posted that caught my interest.
One was to help clean a house and the other was to clean the common toilet. Putting the house aside, I could probably clean the common toilet with the scavenger slimes.
Let's ask the receptionist.
"Excuse me, can I ask a question?" [Ryouma]
"welcome, how may I help you?" [Receptionist]
"Can I get the details on these two requests?" [Ryouma]
"Which ones? …Ahh, those. Those have been up for a while now, actually. They might seem like simple cleaning jobs, but those jobs are really dirty and stinky, so no one wants to do them. Not to mention, the scope…" [Receptionist]
"Are the places that big?" [Ryouma]
"Very. The house cleaning job comes from someone living right next to a landfill. They're not really happy about it either, but it was cheap, so they bought the house anyway.
Unfortunately, a few months after purchasing the house, the wall separating the house's basement from the landfill suddenly collapsed, and all that trash came pouring into the basement. Because of that the house has gotten all stuffy, and now, they need someone to do something about it.
Cleaning the basement is useless unless the wall is fixed since the trash will just keep pouring in, but then, you can't really fix the wall with all the trash, so…
As for the common toilet, the government was originally supposed to hire the people living in the slums to clean it, but apparently, they haven't been paying up, so now, the slum people don't want to work anymore.
The latrine pits haven't been touched for about 3 months already, and the people are already starting to complain. At this rate, the situation will get really bad." [Receptionist]
That's horrible… It's so horrible you can't even express it with one word.
"An epidemic would probably be a bigger problem than the complaints, though… For both of those jobs…" [Ryouma]
"Oh? You're well informed. That's amazing. Just as you've said, unclean places make it easier for diseases to spread, so it would be great if someone could take the jobs on already, but unfortunately…" [Receptionist]
"How big exactly are the places?" [Ryouma]
"The house has a 200 square-meter basement and the common toilet is 7m wide and 2km long with 30 latrine pits. The request for the common toilet is meant to be taken one latrine pit at a time." [Receptionist]
"What about the trash? Oh, no need to mention the common toilet, that one's obvious." [Ryouma]
"Most of the trash in the house is kitchen waste and the rest are lumber remnants." [Receptionist]
If it's like that I can have the scavenger slimes eat them.
"I see… Can I take the house cleaning job then?" [Ryouma]
"Eh!? You're taking it!?" [Receptionist]
"Yes, I know a convenient magic for cleaning. Only, it costs quite a bit of mana, so there aren't many who use it." [Ryouma]
"I see~ Take out your guild card then. There's no time limit, but if you stop midway, you'll have to pay the penalty fee." [Receptionist]
"Gotcha." [Ryouma]
I don't know if it's simply because there really weren't any people interested in the job or simply because the receptionist girl was dedicated to her work, but I handed the guild card to her, and she quickly took care of the process. After that I headed to the house I would be cleaning.
The client lived in the eastern part of Gimuru in a district filled with cheap houses. Most of the houses were ancient, and in fact, even the house I would be cleaning was a run-down shabby house made of bricks.
I knocked at the door.
…No one's coming.
I knocked again.
…Still not coming.
Are they out?
I knocked again, but this time I called out.
"Excuse me! Is anyone in? I've come for the job request you posted in the Adventurers Guild." [Ryouma]
As soon as I said that, the sound of running footsteps and creaking wood sounded, then the door swung open.
"Did you really come to help nyaa!?" [Client]
The person that came out had cat ears on her head and a tail extending from her waist. It was a cat girl. I knew the beast tribe existed and I've even seen them in the guild before, but this is my first time talking to one in person.
I'm a little excited, but it's a pity… My first time meeting a beastman actually had to be accompanied by this terrible stench.
But, no! I won't lose! I'll show you the power of Japan's customer service! My smile won't break with just a little stench!
"Yes, I'm Ryouma Takebayashi from the Adventurers Guild. Would you happen to be the client?" [Ryouma]
"That's right, nyaa! Did you really come to help nyaa!? I'd already given up nyaa~!" [Client]
"Before we start, please confirm the details of the job." [Ryouma]
"Yep, yep! That's it nyaa! My name is Miya nyaa! Thank you so much for coming nyaa!" [Miya]
"Please thank me when the job's done." [Ryouma]
"…Uu, UEEeeeeen!" [Miya]
She's crying!?
I did my best to treat her normally, but she suddenly cried… Now what?
"W-Wait a moment! Please calm down, ok?" [Ryouma]
"Sorry… It's just that I was so happy nyaa… All the adventurers so far were always full of complaints… and they always ended up leaving midway nyaa~ There were even some kids who couldn't handle the smell from the entrance and left right there and then… You're the first one who actually looks eager to do the work nyaa…" [Miya]
Couldn't you have endured a little at least, fellow adventurers? It's not like you could catch anything just by standing at the entrance…
"Anyway, shall we get to work? It's at the basement, right?" [Ryouma]
"That's right nyaa. But what are you going to do nyaa?" [Miya]
"I heard most of the trash are kitchen waste and lumber remnants. I have a suitable magic I can use." [Ryouma]
"Really nyaa?" [Miya]
"Yes, it costs quite a bit of mana, so there aren't a lot of people who use it. I also brought my familiars with me." [Ryouma]
"You're a monster tamer nyaa? …Well, so long as you can clean it up, anything's fine nyaa. Please take care of it nyaa." [Miya]
"Sure. Just to be sure, there are no valuables left at the basement?" [Ryouma]
"Nyan nyan, I never even used it to store anything, so there's no problem nyaa. Though even if there were some, after being buried in trash like that, I'd just throw it away anyway, nyaa." [Miya]
Well, unless it's something really important, you'd rarely keep something that's been buried in kitchen waste for so long. Good then.
"I should be able to finish quickly then. You won't mind if I get rid of everything in the basement, right?" [Ryouma]
"No nyaa." [Miya]
"I'll get to work then. Where's the entrance to the basement?" [Ryouma]
"Over here nyaa." [Miya]
Miya-san led me to a flight of stairs extending down. Following that, I found myself before a door, on the other side of which, was a mountain of garbage and a large business of flies.
Closing the door for a moment, I let the huge scavenger slime out of the basket strapped to me and ordered it to split inside the basement, turning the huge slime into a colossal colony of slimes that filled the room till its roof, then I ordered it to release some stench to attract the flies, and when they'd gathered, I ordered the slimes to eat them all… The scavenger slimes found them delicious.
After that all that was left was to leave the slimes to consume the rest of the trash.
If someone were to see me, they might think I'm playing hooky, so to be safe, I put up a Barrier of Concealment to hide myself.
20 minutes later, the scavenger slimes told me that most of the garbage had already been eaten, so I finally entered the basement myself.
It's a lot better now than before, but it still stinks. Moreover, as the receptionist had mentioned, more trash is coming in from the hole. It seems this house was built at the foot of a slope and the landfill is right above, which is why the trash slides down into the basement.
Who's brilliant idea was it to build a house here? To make things worse, because the trash had buried it once before, the ground beyond the wall is unstable. Eh, I'm sure we'll manage so long as the scavenger slimes eat everything.
"Miya-san." [Ryouma]
"Ah, did something happen nyaa?" [Miya]
"The garbage pouring into the basement is to the left of the house, right?" [Ryouma]
"Yes, that's the landfill, nyaa." [Miya]
"I need to keep the trash from pouring in, so I'll drop by there for a bit. Just call me if something happens." [Ryouma]
After leaving a few words with the client, I went outside. This time I'm going to take the slimes to dine at the landfill.
"…" [Miya]
"They're slimes." [Ryouma]
"Indeed…" [Miya]
She looked at me suspiciously like a long lost relative who happened to be passing by.
I should put up a Barrier of Concealment here too. There's nothing legally wrong with having a slime for a familiar, but there might be some people who have issues with that, so just to be safe.
The Barrier of Concealment works because it utilizes dark mana, and it makes it so that people will pass through it unconsciously.
When I first learned it, I ended up leading myself astray. I passed by my own house several times before I noticed that the barrier I'd erected was messing with me.
While thinking of stuff like that, the scavenger slimes went to work, and one hour later, all of the trash had been eaten.
Still, I wonder what's up with these slimes. They don't need to eat a lot, but when you feed them, they'll keep eating until you run out.
…In any case, the trash is gone now. The wall is still dirty, but that's where I come in. I went back to Miya-san's house and had the scavenger slime and cleaner slime spray the basement with deodorizing liquid. When the stench was all gone, I washed the filth off the walls with water.
"'Mist Wash'." [Ryouma]
By generating water with water magic and compressing it, I was able to spray off the filth from the walls.
I came across this spell while trying to cast Water Cutter, a high pressured water cutting spell, and when I failed, this came about. I noticed it was similar to one of the cleaning tools back in my previous life, so I figured I could use it as cleaning magic.
Even stubborn filth is worthless in the face of this spell, but it uses a lot of mana, so cleaning an entire room is quite taxing. On the bright side, it can be used as long as there's enough mana, but it's only really practical for people with a big mana pool.
"And done." [Ryouma]
After washing off the filth from the walls, I had the scavenger slimes drink the filthy water.
The room is all clean now, but the hole in the wall bothers me… Leaving it like that wouldn't be good, so I figured I might as well cover it up.
Having made up my mind, I used Create Block to turn the dirt outside into brick-sized stones and turned the hole in the wall into a square, then I used the sticky slime's hardening liquid in place of cement and filled the hole with my brick stones. The slimes helped out too, so the whole thing only took us about 20 minutes.
With everything done, I had the cleaner slime clean my body, then I put the slimes back into my basket and went back to Miya-san.
"Miya-san." [Ryouma]
"Nyaa!? Ah, you're dressed like when you came… I-Is something the matter nyaa? C-Could it be you're going back…" [Miya]
"…Yes, I'm done, after all." [Ryouma]
"...Nyaa? Huh? What do you mean nyaa?" [Miya]
Showing would probably be faster, so I took Miya-san and the giant question mark on her head and brought her down to the basement. The moment she saw how clean her basement was, her jaws nearly fell to the ground.
"W-What in nyaarnation is going on nyaa!?" [Miya]
"I cleaned it." [Ryouma]
"Amazing nyaa! You really cleaned it nyaa! It was packed with trash, so everyone's given up until now, but you actually cleaned it! You even fixed the wall, nyaa!?" [Miya]
"It would be problematic if trash were to pour in again, so I covered the hole with earth magic. It might be a bit conspicuous though since the I used a different stone than those used with the rest of the walls. If you don't like it, I can change it back." [Ryouma]
"Nyo need nyaa! I don't mind it, and besides, I was planning on having someone fill the hole once the place has been clean up anyway, nyaa. So thank you, nyaa." [Miya]
"I see, then the job has been completed, yes?" [Ryouma]
"Of course, nyaa. You cleaned everything perfectly and you even fixed the walls, so I'll pay you extra nyaa!" [Miya]
"Thank you." [Ryouma]
Miya-san happily signed the completed column of the request form.
With that the job was done, and all that was left was to bring the form to the receptionist and get my pay.
Miya-san sent me off with words of thanks.
Like that I finished my first job and happily walked back to the guild while feeling a sense of security that I could work even in this world.