That day I went to sleep with no energy to continue building anything so once I picked up the parcel and headed to the west side of the city. Originally, Blanche and Lena were supposed to go hunting Kobolds, but after what happened yesterday, they decided to go with me.
To get to the Fishermen guild, we had to go through the city and over one of the three bridges across the river, where we would find the three lakes, each of them as big as half of the Aula city. Speaking of the bridges, they all had two towers and looked a lot like Tower bridge in London, they could even rise in the middle, allowing the ships to go under it. On the bank of the river were also docks where many ships were anchored. As I found out later, there was a ship line from the Royal capital in the north leading all the way through Nomille and Reva duchies to border regions of the kingdom. For that reason, this line was heavily guarded and checked against illegal contraband periodically.
The lakes were surrounded by three or four villages each and the fastest travel between them was by boat. As it was currently summer, most of the fishermen were hard at work preparing for the fishing season happening during early to mid autumn. Some of them were repairing nets, some were making threads used for fishing lines from spider silk and so on.
"I guess I could use the Steel thread of Cocoon slimes for a fishing rod… Making one wouldn't be that hard, I believe. But the material for the rod though… Should I use magimetal, or some other material…"
"Arito, the Gallun village is before us." Blanche cut my muttering short.
"Oh, right!"
We headed to an elderly guard with a spear sitting before his booth on a wooden chair. His beard wasn't trimmed, not even cared for, so it looked like a bush. Were it not for a bandana holding his long gray hair back from his face, we might've not even seen his almost youthfully sparkling eyes.
"Oh? What can I do for you, kids?"
"Excuse me, could we find the guildmaster of the Fisherman's guild here? We came with a delivery from the guildmaster of the Adventurers guild."
"Oh? Then you are in luck, kids, that old coot is still here. He got a little rowdy with drinks yesterday so he's still stuck in his office. If you have anything else to discuss with him, you better talk to his daughter who works as his secretary too."
"Thank you for the advice," I bowed politely and added a question, "Could you tell me where I would find the guild, then?"
"Oh, right. Go straight from here to the town center, where the well is located. Then go towards the lake, you will see a big strikingly red building with adjacent docks, that's the processing plant where we process fish. On the side of that building is a staircase. Go up and you get to the guild."
"Thank you. We will be on our way, then."
"Good luck, kids!" The friendly guard waved us off and we walked to the village named Gallun.
The place smelled with fish and mud, but strangely enough, it felt nice to my lungs. That may be because I went with my gramps on fishing trips to the mountainside village so many times.
As I smiled to myself, I spotted a few kids watching us from the shade of the buildings.
"Seems we are popular."
"I guess it's because of the time. Every year this place hires adventurers to hunt monsters that attack fishermen when they pull their catch to the boats. It's not like the fishermen are weak, it's just because there are so many monsters."
"I see. And what kind of monsters are that?"
"A quite few appear every year. Emeraldscale anacondas, River Sahuagins, Slime-shredders, Mud Newts, Crab Fiends and sometimes overgrown Lunar Slugs appears."
"Lunar Slugs? What are those?" Blanche asked thanks to which my own uneducation on the subject was hidden.
"They look like your typical garden Slug, but they eat meat, which makes them rather hard to deal with. They eat fish, other crustaceans and when they overgrow, they could even prey on humans. Luckily, the Slime-shredders are keeping their numbers in check, but as they are carnivorous too, when they can't get their own food, they will hunt fish."
"I see, those sound really nasty."
Later, I learned that Lunar Slugs' lifespan is only half a year. They lay eggs during the full moon on their own bodies and because the newborns are too weak to hunt, they eat their parents and their siblings, so from circa one thousand eggs only about fifty or sixty slugs reach adulthood.
"They really are, but Slime-Shredders can be used for ink as well, as they are octopi-type monsters."
"Really? And isn't there an ink guild too, then?"
"It is, but on the first lake. This is the third one so they come here only during the fishing season. From what my dad told me, they collect all the Slime-Shredders and Octolocks and transport them to the first lake, where they have an artificial breeding ground."
"Let me guess, a lot of slimes appear there and they are keeping them for food."
"Yep. That's the gist of it," Lena nodded to my question and I vowed to myself to never go near there with my slimes.
As we chatted, we arrived at the processing plant and headed up to the fishermen guild. I knocked on the doors and got a response of a deep growl and a lady's voice inviting us in. On the other side, we got to see a dwarf sized beaver —a beaverfolk man— sitting behind a table with his head slumped against the desk of his table and a beautifully shaped young woman with a beaver tail and ears.
"Welcome to Gallun Fishermen guild. My name is Eeva and I am the assistant of the sorry-excuse-for-a-guildmaster-father-and-a-grandfather, next to me," she said with a happy smile. Yeesh, that's one harsh lady, I can't even imagine what she would come up with for our group…
"My name is Arito Aruze and I came here with a delivery from the guildmaster of Adventurers guild. May I retrieve it from my Item box?"
"Do as you please," she gave me a smile and once I took out the package and handed it to her, "Oh, it seems that that old geezer is sending you hangover medicine and a letter… I see so you came here to dig some clay for roof tiles. That geezer asks for us to be accommodating as it will be used for a new orphanage you are building. Well isn't that sweet," she folded the letter and looked to be in a thought.
"Okay, I guess I could allow you to dig some of the clay along the northern side. There is also a lot of sand you can use as well," she said before opening the window and grabbing something on the other side.
"Aaaah!! Let me go! I didn't do anything!!'' Surprisingly, she picked up a monkeyfolk boy and pulled him in.
"And the rest of you get here before I get angry!" she yelled at the rest of the kids down by the wall, which made the man lying on the table growl in pain, and turning on her heel she smiled at us and said: "Sorry about this, these guys are just too curious for their own good."
"It's fine… we weren't talking about anything confidential. Just make sure it won't happen again."
"I surely will," she beamed another smile. The boy on the other hand became completely lifeless.
Soon, two more kids came to the room, their heads hanging low. One of them was a girl monkeyfolk like the captured boy and the second was a bulky boy that looked similar to Miss Eeva.
"Haddo, Fina and Ed… honestly, you guys are such a handful… Do you know what could happen if our visitors were nobles? You could end up punished like old Frezede!"
The kid's faces turned pale as Eeva started lecturing them. The air around her was so strong that it even whipped our back into a straight line.
"…so! As your punishment, you will act as guides to these visitors, is that clear?!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" The kids saluted and turned to us before bowing to us, "We are terribly sorry for eavesdropping on you and chief!"
"It's fine. Given you are our guides now, could you take us to the northern beach? We want to get some clay for roof tiles."
"""Understood!""" the kids smiled softly and led us out of the guild room, but the guildmaster stopped us.
"Hey! If you wanna be sure there are no monsters the clay you are bouta dig up, you gotta use mud magic!" he didn't even try to stand up, just extended his weakly trembling hand towards us.
"Mud magic? What is that?" I asked at the sudden appearance of a new term.
"It's a term for compound magic of water and earth elements. It's hard to use for beginners, but surprisingly handy in this environment," Eeva added a small tidbit as we were standing in doors and added: "You will show them, right?"
"""YES!""" the kids said excitedly and led us to the docks. There we borrowed one boat and started rowing to the north until we caught wind and started sailing for the rest of the way.
The trio turned out to be better sailors than we expected as they skillfully sailed the ship to northern beach in little less than half an hour.
"These waters are safe at this time of year. Once the Blue-tailed lizard's mating season starts, the monsters here will start moving as well," Ed, the beaverfolk boy, said as he steered the ship towards the beach.
"Our pops are always getting angry during this time of year, because clams start appearing in our catches and most of them are inedible," Fina, the monkeyfolk girl and sister of Haddo, the captured boy, said with a small laugh that sounded a little bitter.
"Are there a lot of clams?"
"About one tenth of our entire catch is made from clams and only one out of fifteen is the edible kind. But the shells can't be used for anything except for monster detectors and our Newt Hounds are much better at that than some shells on strings," Haddo added.
Some clams are capable of creating a thin layer of nacre… maybe I could use my slimes to melt them away to get it… I might be able to make artificial pearls too…
"You are thinking about pearls, aren't you?" Lena whispered to my ear.
"Yep."
"Well, those are really precious in this world. Just so you know, one small pearl goes for around one million Alba."
"Wanna be known as the Pearl duchess, milady?"
"Hah-hah, real funny. If you will become capable of making pearls, then I'm afraid the nobles will take notice. You are already recognized by 'Named Adventurer' so it's more than likely that you will bring eyes on yourself from the nobles and high standing people."
"Yeah, those diamonds didn't really help me."
"Yes."
"If I learn how to make them, I will keep it a secret."
"That's for the best," Lena said as we hit the land and helped the three kids with the boat on land.
"Welcome to northern beach. As you can see, we have a lot of sand here. The clay deposit is a little way to walk from here," Haddo said as he wiped his nonexistent sweat.
"This place is nice. I gotta show it to the kids too."
"Kids?" The three were confused as I opened my Dimension home and let the kids and my monsters out. As it turned out however, the lizards and snakes I had, felt too cold so they stayed inside the dimension home with the Fire beetles and Red fox (who at this point was just being lazy).
"Behold! This is the sun our late king dreamed about! Brothers and sisters thank the gods for the great mercy they showed us by letting us meet our master, lord Arito!" The white kobold led his fellow Kobolds in a group prayer.
"Whoa! There are so many!"
"All of those are your monsters, Arito? That's an amazing number!"
"Yeah, I study monsters and their evolutionary possibilities as a hobby. As you can see by the diversity, the slimes are the easiest test subject. Could I ask you if you know about slimes living near here?"
"Um… that would be Mud Slimes, right?"
"Yeah. Those are almost everywhere. Finding them with mud magic is the easiest way most of the time," Haddo said and the remaining two nodded to his words.
"I see, I guess I would like to catch some, then."
"Leave it to us! We were ordered to show you some mud magic after all!"
"Right, but give me a moment first. Blanche, Lena, these are for you," I handed them pants which were connected to boots airtightly, turning them into impromptu wading pants.
"Oh, those are nice," Lena smiled at me, picking one pair and going to the dimension home to put them on. Blanche already knew me so she did the same without questioning anything. I for change just took off my regular shoes and had the Cleaning slimes clean them. Before they were done, I took on my own pants, getting myself ready to get dirty. Once the Cleaning slimes finished cleaning my shoes I put the shoes away in the Item box.
"Thank you for waiting, we are back," Lena said as the two girls got out of the Dimension home.
"You look amazing, really."
"Oh, Arito, you are such a swooner," Lena smiled teasingly.
"R-really?" Blanche blushed and looked up at me ignoring Lenas remarks.
"Y-yeah…"
"Okay, you lovebirds! Time to get to work!!" Lena snapped and called over the kids.
"We are just a little way from the city, but don't get separated and stay in sight of each other. While we don't have to see them right now, there might be monsters lurking around, so just stay clear of water, 'kay?"
"'Kaaaaay!'' The kids answered me and went to play around.
"Aniki. Aniki! Look here!" Venti, the dwarf girl called me over because she saw ten of the Stone slimes and two Resin slimes eating sand.
"This is unusual, the rest of the Stone Slimes don't even bat an eye to it, it's most likely they will evolve into Sandy slimes or something. The Resin slimes are more of a mystery, though. Could you help me separate them?"
"Of course!" Venti looked ready to go and once I took out a few big containers, we quickly filled them with sand and the sand eating Stone and Resin slimes.
"Aniki! There are Acid slimes eating shells!" another girl called me over, this time it was Xalopeh, the Sphinx girl. Everyone was calling her Lopi, and I was no exception.
"Really? Interesting. Then could you collect some shells while I go make some roof tiles for our new home?"
"'Kaaay!"
I have such good kids. I smiled to myself and left them with ten baskets, warning them that they don't need to fill all of them, and that they can keep shells they like too. Just to be safe, I left Romi to watch over them.
"Okay, so let's start with the basics of Mud magic. Mud magic is a compound magic category of Water and Earth element. Watch this
"I see, that's an interesting spell," Blanche nodded.
"Right?!" Haddo tried to puff up his chest with pride, but from his little showcase I managed to understand that the ratio of the two elements affects how much fluidity the spell would have. I guess that if I made a spell with a 2:8 earth to water magic ratio, then I could create a swamp-like trap.
"I will try it too, then."
"Okay, but don't be said if it doesn't work on first time, just like miss Eeva said, first time is the har—"
"
"The heck?!!"
"I see, so if I use too much magic, it will do something like this. Good to know. I need to use about 1,5 amount of mana needed to activate the Earth wall spell—
Once the blob fell into my hand, some of the mud on it fell away, showing me a pair of black eyes. I instantly used
Newt Hound
A species of dog monster living in swamps giving it the appearance of a pile of mud. Even when they are washed and dried, they look slimy due to their short fur that always sticks together and absorbs moisture. Bite 2, Fast running 1, Howl 3, Synchronize (mud) 4, Earth magic 2, Water magic 2, Dry up 2, Earth magic resistance 8, Absorb moisture 4
"So this is the Newt Hound, eh? Well, aren't you quite a muddy cutie?" I patted the pup's chin and it wagged its tail so fast that it shot some of its mud at the others. Its eyes were sparkling as it was looking at me so I continued patting and rubbing him as much as I could. That was when it hit me. It could use Dry up skill, so I asked him to use it. As it turned out this skill consisted of shaking off the excess mud and hardening the remaining mud into a hard shell. In this state he moved slowly then before and was losing some of the mud while trying to run. Finding this a success, I used the newly acquired mud magic to do the opposite of Mud wave with a spell I thought up on spot I later called Mud Gathering. Once I had a ball of mud secured on steady land, I used
"Wh-what am I watching?" Haddo let out a surprised yelp.
"Arito is a mage on par with Royal sorcerers, you know?" Lena smiled smugly and went back to the kids.
"Be in awe, my brethren! Watch the magnificent magic our master is using!"
"Oooooh!"
"Hey Kobolds! Be good boys and girls and go capture some monsters!" I gave each of them a basket with a glass container inside, "Use this to transport filter sponges, clams and mud slimes if you find any."
"Uh… understood, boss."
"And once you return, I shall personally prepare dinner for you guys. Not to mention the Cleaning slime's bath will be waiting for you too."
"You hear that everyone?! We will get washed today!"
"Oooooohh!!!"
Oh, how easy it is to fool idiots…
***
Now that I had my imbe— I mean Kobolds —taken care of, I could try out some Compound magic. I first used a spell similar to Drying wind I came up with here to fire the roof tiles.
"I guess I will name this spell Furnace… Okay, now for other experiments, Water with Earth magic makes Mud magic and Wind with Fire makes Heat Magic so what if I combined some other elements?"
"There is a lot of sand, so why not try combining earth and wind?" Lena offered an idea.
"That could be good… hmm… earth and wind… break rock makes stones into dirt and sand right? Then… I could have the wind take off the sand… I got it! Sandstorm!" I sent magic energy to the sand with a clear image and a gust of wind instantly burst from behind me and kicked up a sandstorm, full of lashing winds and sand that gets everywhere. I quickly put a lid on my magic to lower the output and a lot of the sand fell down, but I managed to keep a steady sand tornado at a reasonable distance and of even strength.
"Oh, that looks nice."
"Yeah, but using Wind shot or Wind cutter might be more effective for wind magic and Rock bullet for Earth magic would be better too. I can't see this spell being used for anything except for obstructing the view."
"It might be good for polishing, though," Lena added to my mutter.
"There is something about that. Okay, I will pack some sand in my item box I still don't know how much I will need to evolve those Stone slimes…" I opened said spell and took out bags I made from Cocoon slime silk. I used the sand spell again to fill them.
"How much sand can you pack?"
"About 750 kilos I think? Each of these sacks are about twenty five kilograms each."
"My lord! We brought you the catch!" At that moment the Kobolds returned with their baskets, surprisingly less dirty than I expected them to be.
"Oh really? Then show me."
"Here sir!"
They opened all ten baskets and showed me what was inside. Two of them were filled with green sponge-like creatures, the Filter Sponges. They were taking in and out water in the basket, making for quite a lot of waves. Three other baskets were filled with Octolocks, four baskets following that were filled with clams which were both the edible and the poisonous varieties.
"So far, your catches were all over the place, I wonder what is in the last one," Fina said, taking off the lid of the last basket and with a bitter smile closed it again.
"What? What is it?" Haddo asked.
"It's Ellee," Fina explained and the rest of the village kids made an understanding look.
Little confused, I opened the lid and appraised the snake-like creature inside.
Ellee
Eel monster found commonly in lakes by the Aula city. Grows up to 1,5 meters. It's considered useless and trash fish due to its poisonous blood and muddy taste.
"Ah, I see. This is no problem."
"No problem? If you drain their blood poorly, you could fall deadly ill!" Ed tried to stop me, but I pushed him away gently and set up gril I had in my Dimension home. Luckily, I had enough wood scraps and coal in my item box for grilling all week long. I set up the fire and let it preheat.
Then I grabbed one Ellee and cut its gills, letting the Bloody slime invade its body and drink the blood. The slime did level up its poison resistance skill, but that was a side effect I was happy to see anyway. When bleeding was done, I took my knife, cut it open and fed the innards to the Corpse slimes who I tried to multiply in order for them to merge into Big Corpse Slime. I had to do something about the smell though, so I had the Cleaning slimes give it a one over, getting rid of the mucus on the meat and slime on the skin. Then came fileting as a final step before cooking. And speaking of cooking, I seasoned it with salt I made with magic, little pepper I grew in the forest and to give it a final touch, I smeared it with little oil that had rosemary essence, this was one of bandit loot, and it was good food addiction, so I was more than happy to use it.
I poke the meat on metal needles and place them on the grill. Soon enough, the smell waffled all around us and everyone started drooling. Well, the Kobolds didn't, but that was because I had them take bath with the Cleaning slimes in the Dimension home at the same time.
"So, does anyone want the first bit—" before I could even finish, Alma, the Catfolk girl that liked working with the Wooly wolf, was standing before me with sparkling eyes.
"I will gladly eat it, Aniki!" Her enthusiasm was so great that I just put the skewered meat in her hand and watched her eat it.
Just like any cat I knew, she bit into the fish without holding back.
"Nyaaaaa! So gooooood!!!" She started stuffing her face like there was no tomorrow.
"""Aniki!"""
""Aniki, me too please!""
The kids swarmed me and started asking for skewered meat as well. I guess I will have to make more of this eel.
"I would also like some," Ed wiped his droll as he looked at the kids eating.
"Okay, one Ellee skewer right on your way. Blanche, could you prepare two more Ellees?"
"On it!" she smiled and went to the basket with the eel monsters, quickly capturing two of them. I guess she really trained by catching snakes back in the forest… and she even caught that Blue Moon Viper, too…
I watched Blanche prepare filets of the eel monster just as expertly as I did. To think she watched me and was instantly able to replicate it… Blanche is really amazing.
As I was reminded of how great a companion I have this time around, I continued grilling meat until everyone was satisfied. I got to eat some too, and was honestly surprised at how greatly they turned out. The rosemary really suppressed the fish smell and the salt with pepper was just about the right balance.
"It's starting to get darker, we should head back," Ed said, looking at the position of the sun, wiping some oil from his face with his hand.
"Yeah, we should head back too… wait! Don't go to the boat!"
"What?"
I quickly took out my bow and quiver with arrows and shot one arrow behind Haddo. There, a monster screeched as its hiding spot was discovered.
"N-No way…"
"Emeraldscale Anaconda?!"
"It's so big…"
The local trio was surprised and afraid at the same time. The snake before me, could very well be more than fifteen meters long. I managed to take out one of its eyes with my first arrow so I was not waiting and prepared more arrows.
Emeraldscale Anaconda
An anaconda with verdant scales, its constricting coil resembling entangled vines. It lives in mangrove forests and climbs trees where it can wait for ambush for days. It grows up to 15 meters, but it can be even longer if its prey is bountiful. It is an extremely venomous snake that possesses paralyzing glare. Its scales can be made into sturdy armor.
Running Appraisal on it was a good call as it showed me a great threat this monster possessed.
"
"Let's try something different! Blizzard!!" I tried combining ice and wind magic in a 4:6 ice to wind ratio and I created a gust of freezing wind.
"Sh-shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
The Anaconda could not handle the surprising cold and entered a hypothermic state. It slumped against ground shaking. I took out my machete from the Item box, ending its suffering.
"Alright! It's all clear."
"H-he beat the anaconda even adults have a hard time dealing with…"
"Really? No assistance again? And what was that continuous use of multiple elemental magics?" Lena seemed really angry with me.
"Well, given the Compound magic is all about using two elements, I thought I could even activate more spells at once, though I didn't think two compound spells at once would be possible. On the other hand, maybe it was because they used one element together that it worked."
"Aaaaaah… why am I not surprised you thought about something like that?"
"Well, Arito always comes up with amazing things under pressure," Blanche came up to me and inspected the corpse while putting her Bloody slime to work.
"Those scales can be sold for quite a lot of money, so we better treat it carefully."
"Right!" Blanche smiled at me and started butchering the snake while I prepared a cold box for its meat.
***
About two hours later, we headed back to the village. The reason it took so long was just due to the anaconda that actually had not fifteen meters, but twenty. Talk about an overgrown bastard! It better make for good meat or I will really be angry!
"Finally! I said to go to the northern beach, but you had to go by lake route! It's almost dark you know?! Do you know how worried we were?!!!" Eeva greeted us with a dark look on her face.
"M-mom! We encountered Anaconda on our way back!"
"If it wasn't for Arito we could've been eaten!" Fina added to Ed's defense and I procured the head of the Anaconda from behind them.
"Such a big head… Okay, I understand why you took so long, but next time go on foot, it's not that much longer!" Eeva sighed and turned to us, "Have you collected enough material?"
"Yes. Firing it was a little harder, but nevertheless, we managed to do it in record time. By tomorrow I will have the roof placed and I will be able to furnish the place and have the kids sleep there a day or two later."
"Oh, so fast?"
"Yes. Though I still need to build a second building where I will hold their classes. After all, the more you learn, the more options you get going forward."
"You seem really mature for your age, I just hope these three would take a page of your book," Eeva said with another sigh and took the kids to their homes after we said our goodbyes.
"It was really hectic, wasn't it today?"
"Yeah, but in a good way I think."
"We might even manage to have the kids spread the good word about Ellee."
"How did you like it anyway?"
"It was better than the snake we had that one time. I really enjoyed it."
"Yeah, same with me," Lena added to Blanche's satisfied approval.
"Well, I packed some for your family too, do you think they will like it?"
"Well, first have them taste it and then tell them what you are serving them like with the Octolocks."
"Though, I don't think that they will trust you if you pull this too many times," Blanche added.
"Yeah, I should come clean with them once in a while."
"That sounds terrible when you say it out loud like that."
"Well, it's the truth, though."
We walked home feeling strangely motivated for the days to come. Once we returned to the inn, it was already dark outside. As I opened the doors, I was almost knocked over by Laina who was apparently about to go looking for us.
"Do you know what time it is?!" We were thrust into one more lecture which we diligently sat through.
Once we were released, I was surprised by receiving letters from not just Guildmaster Graldi, but from Mozz of the Gemma company, slum leader Grieva and guildmaster of the merchants guild Merle.
"So the hunt in the mine and dungeon was concluded today and we have no need to pay a penalty for not participating in the last day because we were on the mission directly from the guildmaster, that's great."
"Yeah, especially because the two of us bailed the last day," Lena said after I finished reading the first letter.
"That's great! And what are the rest of the letters about?"
"Miss Marle wrote me a list of vacant buildings that I could use for my shop. She apparently heard about the items I am selling under the pretense of MonsterWork company with Mozz. She also mentions that if I want to see her, then I can come the day after tomorrow when she has an opening in her meeting schedule. Mozz wants to discuss something about the orphanage with me that he can't write about in a letter. Last that came is from Grieva, who wants to know how many kids the orphanage would be able to house and if I would be willing to take in some kids from the streets under my wings."
"The building will have twenty rooms on each floor, right?"
"Yeah, I wanted everyone to get their own privacy, but when I talked about it with them, I found out that they would rather live in rooms with four or five of them together, so I thought of making bunk beds for all rooms."
"Yeah, that's probably the best way to increase the space… Will they have enough space in the dining room, though?"
"Well, worst case scenario, I will have them eat in turns. Though, if the number increases, I will have to hire some help."
"That's true. Should I ask Father and Mother? They will gladly help you get some people, I'm sure."
"I can't count on their kindness with everything. This is something I decided for myself so I need to come up with solutions myself too."
"Aren't you acting a bit too adult-like?" Lena tried to tease me.
"Someone has to," I paid her back in kind.
"Nununu…"
"Anyway, since the Kobold hunt ended, I will go to Mozz first thing tomorrow morning and then finish the building process, so we can have the kids live there."
"Yeah, Dimension Home is definitely comfy, but nothing beats a real room and warm bed," Blanche snuggled against me and I patted her head.
***
The next day it was raining.
"Arito, are you sure you want to go out in this weather?" Laina asked me worriedly.
"It will be fine, I can use the Rain Shield spell and warm myself up with other magic too."
"If you say so…" she said, completely untrusting, and added firmly: "But you will take the carriage to Gemma's store."
"…Okay, I understand," I nodded, feeling I had no chance of saying no to her.
In the carriage, I was alone so I read a book about Healing magic from which I was only able to use two spells so far. As I did, I came up with ideas for new spells that could come in handy so I wrote them down with my new pencil made with great help of the Carbon slime.
Once I made it to the store, I was instantly shown to the meeting room I was already getting used to.
"Master Arito! I'm so glad I got to see you so soon. First, let me show you the work of the artisan on the red diamond you came here with," Mozz sounded elated as he placed a highly decorated box on the table between us.
"Don't mind if I do…" I released the lock on the box and carefully opened it. The inside of the box had high quality fabric used to hold a necklace with the gem. The Red Diamond was cut in the shape of a heart due to its unique shape that was given to it when I added the coloring. The gem was held in an intricately detailed pendant and equally exquisite necklace made from gold. That yellow and red really go well together, but I believe white would go even better.
"This is really a piece of art… I'm only worried that there won't be any buyers in this town."
"Yes, that was my fear as well, but luckily there is a way to introduce it to a greater audience while making sure we can sell it for even greater price," Mozz smiled with his index finger held high.
"Really?"
"Indeed. Next week the Great summer Auction in the royal capital Alberthaal will start. There, we can introduce the gem to not only a great number of influential merchants, but also to nobles and royalties of Southern Alliance."
"I see, it's a great way to make your name spread between the upper echelons of society."
In other words he will use it to make connections.
"Indeed it is. Which is also why it leaves a bad feeling in the back of my mind. Would you mind if I introduced the item as work of both Gemma and MonsterWork Companies?"
"I wouldn't mind, but we came here to make connections with trusted merchants that could hide my identity. Plus there might be problems if people find out I am running it, they could use some nefarious means of interfering."
"That is indeed possible, but with duke Nomille behind your back you should be fine."
"That may be the case, but I can't be that dependent on him, so please keep my and my company's names out of it," I bobbed my head.
"Hmm… Alright, I understand. Now let's talk about the second thing I would like from you."
"Okay, let's hear it."
"As I said before, I'm going to the Great Summer Auction in the capital next week, but there is also one more thing I need to do there. It is something of a personal matter, but let me give you a run down."
To summarize:
A noble kid that worked in the capital's branch of Gemma's store that hid its nobility eloped with a coworker there. His father got enraged when he found out from his spies and wanted to take the girl's life, which failed due to his son's mastery over martial arts. As they refused to separate, they asked Mozz to hide them somewhere.
"…and that is why I wish to hide them here."
"And that is where I come into play with my orphanage, right?"
"Indeed. I would like you to hire them as caretakers in your orphanage. Miss Emma is an exceptional cook and on top of martial arts, Hugh is also a great teacher, he could teach kids reading, writing, calculation, etiquette and much more. He trained most of my staff that got sent to branches in towns that prominent nobles use as their homes. You could have them as clerks in your own shop, but that could lead to them running into their old enemies."
"They seem a little overqualified for an orphanage, but I was thinking of hiring some staff, and I'm not really confident in managerial work."
"Well, they can really help out with that," Mozz smiled, "So, I take it that I can introduce them to you?"
"Okay, please do."
With that decided, I went to finish the orphanage. I casted the Rain Shield spell and Drying Wind to dry up the building so I wouldn't have to deal with mold. I laid down the floor I was missing for one floor, had the Resin Slimes hardened it together with their sticky resin and set up stairs. I then constructed the skeleton of the roof and started placing the roof tiles on it. I had the most numerous Grime Slimes and Moss Slimes help me place them. Once it was finished, I jumped with a Teleport spell in front of the house and went inside. I checked on my material and found it easy to finish the rooms within today so I started stacking the stones into walls.
Once I had the skeleton of rooms done, I called out my acid slimes to help me work on the wooden frames of doors and windows. This went surprisingly easy as they used their acid to melt away most of the unneeded wood. The window shutters were not openable, as I needed to place them as fast as I could, so comfort would need to wait a little.
"Heeeeeeeey! You there kid?!" Grieva called to me from the outside.
"I'm coming!!!" I let the slimes do what they were doing and went down to the back doors.
Once I opened the doors, I was greeted not just by Grieva, but by ten more kids as well. One of the boys, a human, who seemed to be the oldest, glared at me.
"Hello there, Grieva. Are these the kids you were talking about?"
"Some o'them! Though, these yung'uns need warm space to sleep and heal up!"
"Are some of you sick?" I turned to the kids and the oldest boy glared at me before speaking up.
"My sister…"
Now that he mentioned it, he was carrying a kid around four or five years old on his back.
"Okay, come in. It's better to warm up first," I invited them inside and went to heat up some soup in the kitchen. I took out some tables and chairs from my Item Box for them to sit on.
"This place is as empty as our old squatting space… it's dryer though…" the glaring boy said as he placed his sister on a chair next to himself.
"Well, I just placed the roof today and used a spell to dry it."
"Entire house? Yeah, good joke," the boy said with a sneer.
"Aaaaaaaah… Let's get to eating…
"""Yes Aniki!!!"""
"Rifa… Alma too?"
"Huh? Oh hey! It's siscon!"
"I am NOT!!!" the boy blushed as he yelled at Rifa's teasing.
"Uhh…"
"Misha!" The overprotective big brother instantly shot to his falling little sister, but was too far away.
"
"Of course, Aniki!" a small boy on the portly side smiled at me with fist against his heart. He was a Pigfolk so even when he starved, he had quite a large belly.
"H-hey!"
"You come with me Mr. Siscon and tell me what's wrong with her."
"I'm not a siscon! I'm Paul!!!"
"And I'm not 'Hey' I'm Arito. Now tell me what's wrong with her," I said after I closed the doors behind us to give us some privacy. I placed the girl on a bed with Fluff slime's shed fluff stuffed inside a pillow and blanket.
"Two weeks ago Misha's arms developed those green spots, her breathing started to be ragged and she's been like this ever since."
"I see… given she's still alive, it won't be Frosta or Necorro… my best guess is Land Curse," I supplemented the boy with information I got from the Introduction books.
"Land Curse?! What is that? I never heard of this thing!"
"I'm not surprised that you didn't. It's an extremely rare sickness that only appears in Magicfolk and halflings who have strong affinity with earth and fire magic. You look like a human, does that mean you don't have same father or mother?"
"We have different fathers. Our mother works in a local brothel, you see?" Paul spit to the side.
"I see. I guess your sister has blood from such a race, and luckily there is an easy cure."
I took out a lump of Pink Silver I got, way back from Chika.
"Is that…"
"A part of the cure," I said and started making the potion.
First I boiled the lump of Pink Silver with Earth spirit liquor (that actually didn't have any alcohol in it, sadly), and a powdered combination of Earth and Fire magic crystals into highly conductive magical liquid. I used magic to cool it down slowly, so it turned into more jelly-like consistency.
"Will it take a long time?"
"It's done."
Earthly potion
Potion used for Land Curse. It boosts the natural amount of Fire and Earth elements in the consumer's body.
I had the brother raise his sister's body and I had her drink it. Right at the moment she took a sip, her body easened up and her facial expression changed to a much more relaxed one. Her spots started fading little by little as well.
"Great work. She now needs to rest and eat properly. Come, we better have some food too."
"Wait! I… I'm sorry… I was really rude to you, it was dumb of me," Paul bowed to me.
"It's fine, you were trying to protect your sister, I'm sure I would be on edge too, if it was about Blanche."
"Is that your sister?"
"More like a life partner," I smiled at him and he smiled back.
"Can I… tell you something about us?"
"Sure. Hit me up."
"I was born thirteen years ago in a brothel my mother was working at. I was supposed to be thrown away to some back alley, but I was really quiet as a child so I wasn't disrupting the work… They kept me around and had me clean their clothes, play music and do other chores… But then, my sister was born. The proprietress was happy with the girl being born; she probably wanted more workers for cheap. Since we started having a good relationship with my sister, the proprietress tried to kill me… I… defended myself and she fell from the stairs to her death… I wanted to run away, but I also didn't want my sister to live this life, so I took her and ran away. We've been living in the streets on the opposite side of town ever since…"
"I see, well if you want to stay with us, then feel free," I stood up and looked at him, "You two will always have open doors here."
***
We had a quick lunch and after it, I decided to place a wooden floor on the top two floors, with which the kids offered their help.
"Oh wow! There are so many slimes!" The new kids were surprised by seeing the Acid slimes.
"Heh-heh-heh! And you only saw the Acid slimes, wait till you see the rest of them!" Lopi laughed confidently, her wings fluttering behind her.
"Okay everyone! Here you have planks so start making the floor after me!"
"Oooooooh!!!!!"
With the extra help, we quickly managed to fix the floors of the two floors, so I asked the kids to start filling pillows (Which could also work as bags) with the shedding of the Fluff slimes. Alma and some more skillful girls took it upon themselves to stitch the pillows to close them, which I was thankful for, as it gave me more breathing space and I could fix the window shutters before I could make the actual glass windows. Now that I think about it, there aren't any glass windows anywhere in the city. It's kinda funny that the first house to have them would be an orphanage on slums grounds.
I first fixed the second floor shutters and then on the first floor. The base floor where the dining room and kitchen were located had shutters from the first day, though.
"It's starting to get late…"
"Indeed. You will have to go to Duke, right, boy?" Rieva asked me.
"Yeah, I don't want them to be too worried."
"Right. Hey kiddos! Who wants to stay here?"
"Meeeee!!!" The newcomers raised their hands as well as Paul did, albeit a little timidly.
"Kay! In that case, I will see myself out," Rieva waved goodbye and was fast to leave.
"W-wait! …and he's gone… really, what's his problem? He's so fast on his feet too," I muttered and turned to the kids, "Well, it seems like you're staying with me now."
"Hey, Aniki, Aniki. When will we move in?"
"Well, I have to make the beds so given that you guys finished the beddings today, I think in two days you will be sleeping here."
"Hm? Now that I think about it, why are you all calling him Aniki?" one of the new girls asked with a confused look.
"Because Aniki is the strongest!"
"He's the best!"
"He's the coolest!"
The rest of the kids started chanting as if they were trying to embarrass me.
"Arito saved us from kidnapers."
"We also went to the beach together!"
"And ate a lot of meat!"
"I'm getting hungry…" Venti tugged on my sleeve.
"Right, we should eat something before we go."
"""""Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!!!"""" the kids cheered up and went to the dining room and I followed them.
For dinner, I decided to go with some meat to make the kids happy. For the diner, I decided to make Emeraldscale Anaconda soup with mushrooms I grew in my experimental garden back in the forest. I also added some magically created salt and other spices (those were grown naturally).
I chopped the anaconda meat into bite sized pieces and simmered them with some onion on oil before adding the salt, pepper and paprika. Next I poured soup stock, made from Red Deer meat, over the simmered meat and added potatoes with herbs and mushrooms.
"Alright! Take bowls and make a line! I have enough for everyone so don't be worried you won't get any!" I called out the kids and they did as I asked them.
"That smells nice, could we get some too?"
The voice belonged to Lena who came in with her family in tow.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Arito."
"We thought we would take a look at how you are doing, here."
"It's nice to see you everyone. I still have some soup left, do you want to eat some?"
"You are really kind. Today was really hectic for us, so we would love some good food," Laina smiled bitterly.
"Was it really that bad?"
"You have no idea. We were carrying out the investigation about the embezzlement, but weren't able to find anything. So it was either a hoax or they became really scared due to what happened in the Macedia city and became a lot of secretive."
"That sounds rough," I smiled weakly at Henry as I handed him back the bowl.
"Aaaaah, what a pleasant smell," his tired face eased up when he smelled the soup. The kids were a little scared of the adults, but seeing Lena and me interacting with them normally, they were kind enough to not stare at them.
Once everyone had their bowl, I took one myself and started eating. The taste was exquisite, the meat was falling apart when it entered my mouth and together with the onion and paprika it made the deer soup stock mellow and easy on the tongue.
"Wow, this soup is amazing."
"This meat, is Emeraldscale anaconda, correct?"
"Yes, you are correct Mr. Edgar."
"I see, but this aftertaste is slightly different from usual soup made with this meat, have you used different kinds of meat?"
"I made soup stock from Red deer bones."
"A soup stock? I see, so this is a taste of soup that Lady Lena proposed…"
I looked at Lena who was stuffing her face with meat and mushrooms, as I did, our eyes met and she smiled softly.
"Now that I look around, I don't see Blanche here," Laina looked over the room and then at me.
"She went to the mines to check on the farm I set up there with Romi."
"I'm here!" The moment I said where she went, Blanche came back.
"Good work out there, would you like some soup?"
"I will get it myself so don't worry," Blanche smiled at me and hopped over to the kitchen where I left the pot with remaining soup. Once she filled her bowl, she went back and seated herself between me and Lena with a warm smile.
"So how was your day?"
"It was great honestly. The Ogres were doing what you assigned them, so I just used some Wood Magic to grow them a little more. We might be able to harvest some Rappo berries in a few days."
"Really?!" Henry practically jumped up.
"Calm down dear, you are scaring the children," Laina chidded her husband, "And don't forget about that thing."
"Oh… I'm sorry about that… Anyway, we got a letter from the Summoner's guild that they have finished preparing for Taming aptitude tests."
"Really?" Lena looked up at her father with a happy smile.
"Arito, you are free to join us, I believe that would be good for you."
"I would love to join you, when do you plan to go?"
"In three days time, I'd say. We still need to look into the Town hall business and Lena needs to continue her training," Laina said with a finger placed against her chin.
"Okay, what about you Blanche? Will you try making another contract?"
"I guess I could go make one, but I will need a crystal to hold my summoned beast."
The crystal in which her Wind Wyrm was stored was tied to a leather string around her neck. To summon it, she needed to send enough magic to it and call out the name of the summon.
"You can get those from the mines so there should be quite some for sale."
"Um, are they perchance Magic Crystal?"
"Yes. Usually the bigger and brighter they are, the stronger monsters you can summon."
"I see, thank you for explaining that to me."
"Aniki, what are we supposed to do with the bowls?" Rifa whispered next to me.
"I left Cleaning slime in the sink, so place it next to it and the slime will take and clean them," I whispered back.
"Brotheeeeeeer~" a weak voice came from another room and Paul practically blurred out and disappeared behind the doors.
"Are there other kids?"
"Just one girl with a Land Curse. I already gave her some medicine, but to be fully healed, she will need time."
"Land Curse? That's not your common sickness. Is she gifted with an earth element?"
"She appears to be a Half-Gnoma."
"A Half-Gnoma, eh? For a race closely related to Dwarves, they are highly susceptible to this sickness, though they build quite a strong resistance when they survive it."
"Um, if you excuse me, I will bring her some food," I excused myself and went to the other room with a bowl of soup from which I took out the bigger pieces that could be hard for her to eat.
I walked over to the room and knocked on the doors. Once I heard Paul respond to me I entered the room. In the simple bed I saw the girl lying in bed looking at me with Paul next to her.
"I brought some soup."
"Thannnkk youuu…" the girl breathed heavily and tried to smile at me.
"Hmm… you look better than before, I guess you have more severe symptoms than I originally thought. But don't worry. Eat well, sleep well and you will be running around in no time," I smiled at the girl and patted her head. Surprisingly, her skin had a sand-like feel. It was really coarse and it felt as if her skin was made of thousands of tiny grains.
"Is this how skin is supposed to feel?"
"Yeah, she feels like sand, it always was like this," Paul confirmed.
"Okay, then. Here is a vial of the Earthly potion. Once she is finished eating, have her drink it. Okay Misha, your big brother will take care of you and once everyone is done with eating, I will take you to my Dimension home so you are always warm."
"Thank you… hero…"
"How did you call me?" I was a little surprised.
"You are… really… nice… and you… help us… like a hero in stories…"
"I see, now is it okay to eat something okay?"
I saw myself out and went to collect all the dishes and spoons from the Cleaning slimes, who already started piling them on next to the sink.
"I must say, these wooden bowls are exquisitely done. Have you carved them by hand?" Laina asked me as she watched me over from the take out place.
"More or less, I'd say. I fastened the log to a metal holder and had it spin at high speed during which I carved it. So You could say I did carve it, but I did it in less than ten minutes."
"Really? Did you use some kind of magic item?"
"Well, there was a toy enchanted with Null magic
"I see, I guess we should introduce you to our First grade Specialist in Magitool crafting."
"First grade Specialist?"
"Specialists are people we employ who specialize in a certain field of study. The grades are divided into five groups and the higher grade you are, the higher your paycheck is. Though, you need to show your worth at least once a year. Also, we have to be informed of any new discoveries you make. Fifth and the Fourth grades have monetary compensations. Third and second grades are allowed to have assistants and special facilities. And from Second grade up, you are also allowed to have guards paid by us."
"I see, that sounds interesting. And this person is a Specialist in Magitool crafting?"
"Yes, be it Spring Pouches, Magimobiles and many other things. We have some magic tools he made for protection, as well as some to boast about to other nobles, though that hardly happens as we don't really enjoy the company of too many of them," Laina added with a bitter smile.
The magi-mobiles sounded interesting, but I better keep my mind occupied with this thing first.
"He seems like a great person."
"He definitely is one of the best there is."
With the conversation finished, I put the dishes to my Item box, ushered the kids to my Dimension home and returned with the ducal family to the inn. Hmm, Blanche looks quite tired. Hmm… Maybe I should take her for a date tomorrow. I can delegate most of the work to Acid slimes and Venti, after all.
Right! Let's go on a date tomorrow!