Book 1: Chapter 5: (2)

「What would Ria think if I showed it to her? …Actually that might not work. I get the feeling Ria is scared of monsters.」

And it was probably because she fainted in the dungeon while being paralysed by poison.

But right now, I was thinking of something that I would have never dreamed of thinking just a few moments before.

「Could I possibly raise this slime as a pet, rather than rearing it to kill?」

That was when I heard someone getting out of the washroom.

It was definitely Ria. She’ll probably be looking for me.

「O-oh no! I have to hide the slime somewhere! That’s it!」

I stuffed the Tupperware box in a cupboard that I warned Ria not to open. It was where I kept the cardboard box filled with the forbidden books (pornographic doujinshi).

「Hide here for a while and read some forbidden books, alright?」

The slime jiggled a little, as if answering me.

The doors to the Japanese-styled room opened. In a panic, I quickly closed the cupboard.

Standing there in her bloomers, Ria made a confused expression.

「Sir Thor, what is the matter?」

「N-nothing. It’s nothing. 」

「I-is that so? The bath is empty now so you may use it now」

「Y-yeah, thanks」

I headed to the bathroom in a hurry. Please grow up quickly, white slime—.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

After rinsing my body, I soak in the bathtub.

「But really… I guess it’d be a pretty bad idea to keep an animal from another world in Japan as a pet. Although I can’t really tell if this room is considered to be in Japan.」

Alright! I should follow my original plan and move the slime back into the dungeon!

Although I’m kind of sad about it…

When I got out of the bath, I saw Ria sitting on the tatami, wiping her armor and shield with olive oil.

「Ah, I’m sorry. Am I being a nuisance?」

「No, it’s alright. Actually, I was thinking of doing my research for my forbidden books here」

「Is that so?!」

「Yeah. So could you please continue in the living room for a while?」

「I understand」

In her navy blue bloomers, Ria went out of the Japanese-style room.

「It seems that she’s taken quite a liking to the bloomers, hasn’t she…? No, it’s not the time for that right now!」

I opened up the cupboard and checked on the slime.

Nothing had changed about it. It was just jiggling like it had been the entire time.

It really is cute.

「…」

「Hm? Wait? A side of the lid is open?」

Could it be that part of its body reached out through the air holes and opened it up?

No, that can’t be. I made these holes with the tip of a knife. They’re tiny.

The slime itself was still in the Tupperware box, so I must have just forgotten to close it.

「I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to raise pets in this apartment. I’ll raise you in the dungeon.」

For some reason, I felt like the white slime was jiggling sadly now.

I braced my heart and headed towards the dungeon while hiding the Tupperware.

「Where are you going?」

「I-I’m just going to the dungeon. I’ll be right back. 」

Escaping from Ria, I went to the dungeon.

I placed the Tupperware box in a corner of the closed room in the dungeon.

「Stay here obediently alright? I’ll bring you some more delicious food and a bigger water bowl」

After talking to the white slime, I returned to the apartment.

「I’m home!」

「Welcome back. What were you doing?」

Still holding on to her armour, Ria asked.

「Ah, just a small errand. By the way, do people find white slimes in dungeons lately?」

I casually started asking her about white slimes.

「What? White slimes? I heard that they were already extinct」

「Really!?」

「Yes. I heard that they were the rare monsters that didn’t attack humans but they were decreasing in numbers and no one has seen them for about 20 years.」

It seems that I just found a super rare slime.

If it doesn’t attack then I should just raise it in the apartment.

「Give me a second, I’m going back to the dungeon.」

「What? A-alright. Be careful」

I went to where the white slime was in a hurry.

「Hm? The Tupperware box is open!? And the white slime is gone!」

I searched around the area but I couldn’t find the white slime anywhere.

The headlights alone weren’t enough. I turned on the torchlight function of my smartphone…there’s something on the ground.

I moved closer and shined light on it.

「What? Why is there a Kokorone Miru¹ figure here?」

There was a Kokorone Miru figure on the floor in a dungeon.

Could it be that the figure was caught on my clothes when I was in the Japanese-style room and fell off when I came here?

Well, I can’t think of any other good explanation I guess. I picked it up.

「Woah! This figure. It’s so jelly-like. It feels so nice to touch~」

It kind of just looks like a normal Kokorone Miru figure that wasn’t very well made but it really feels so nice to touch.

「Did I ever buy a figure like this? I don’t remember. But I guess I can’t really think of any other reason this would be here if it wasn’t me who bought it.」

I placed it in my pocket and resumed my search for the white slime.

But the white slime was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found a blue slime the size of an eraser.

「Sigh, I can’t seem to find the white slime anywhere so I guess I’ll keep this instead.」

Although for some reason, it wasn’t as cute as the white slime was. But it couldn’t be helped, since the white slime disappeared.

I picked it up and tried to place it in the Tupperware box.

「Ouch. Did it just bite my finger?」

As I tried to pick it up to place in the Tupperware box, it attacked me. Just as I thought, it wasn’t cute at all.

「Whatever, I guess. This is also another way to earn more experience points. I’ll hunt it down when it gets bigger」

The fact that I wouldn’t hesitate to kill a blue slime may mean that they were better than white slimes. I left the Tupperware box in the dungeon and left.

「I’m home!」

「Welcome back~. That took a while, didn’t it?」

I took quite a bit of time trying to find the white slime.

I might have made her worry.

「I’m sorry. I was just doing some research for my forbidden book. I’ll be in the Japanese-style room, OK?」

I took out the figure I picked up in the dungeon out of my pocket. Yup, this was a pretty good figure.

All things aside, it just felt so nice to touch. I wanted to admire it more but it was already time to sleep.

I don’t remember having this, but for now, I positioned it in the same way I did my favourite dolls.

For some reason, the figure looked a bit lonely there. Leaving it be, I turned off the lights in the Japanese-style room.

I went to the living room where Ria was.

…If I guessed correctly, she was probably going to ask to sleep together tonight as well. The fear of being in the dungeon was probably still there.

If so, then it’d make sense that she would want to sleep together. I was sure of it.

「Ria—. It’s getting late so shall we brush our teeth and go to sleep soon?」

「You’re right. I am getting sleepy. 」

We stood side by side as we brushed our teeth.

「U-um, Sir Thor……is it alright if we sleep together tonight too?」

「Y-yeah, of course.」

「I’m sorry. It must be a nuisance.」

「No, it’s alright. But are you still scared?」

「Still a little, especially of dark places.」

We slept together yesterday too, but today, she upgraded(?) from jerseys to bloomers.

We didn’t wrap our arms around each other’s necks like we did yesterday, but our legs were touching today. To be accurate, they were interlocked.

This is important so I feel the need to mention this again. Ria was wearing bloomers so her legs were bare.

I was regretting wearing jersey pants tonight. I should have worn short pants, or at least knee-length pants.

I didn’t plan to wake up and sneak out to the dungeon today.

All that was left to do was to sleep to get ready for tomorrow but the question was whether I could actually fall asleep…?

……………………

………………

…………

……

I-I can’t sleep!

Notes: