Book 1: Chapter 5: (7)

I stepped into the bathroom and took off Shizuku, or rather we separated.

「Tomorrow…or I guess today, my work is from 8 to 3…and I still haven’t slept at all yet. 」

「As I thought, please stay home and enjoy the day with Ria, Master… 」

「I already told you, I can’t let you do something like that. It’s my job so I should do it. 」

Above all else, I thought I should try to get as much sleep as I could before work, so I hopped into the bed that Ria was already sleeping in. Shizuku who had returned to her slime form also crawled over.

「May I sleep together with you as well? 」

「Yeah sure. Just don’t let Ria see you, okay? 」

After Shizuku jiggled with glee, she hopped into the bed with us.

「Yes! To be in bed with my Master… it’s so warm and feels very pleasant. 」

「Oh? 」

「The stone walls of the dungeon were very cold. I’m so happy I was able to come up through the depths of the dungeon and meet you, Master. 」

「I see. I’m happy too. 」

「Thank you! 」

As Shizuku was speaking, I slowly became more and more tired before I was finally embraced by sleep.

In the morning, Shizuku was making breakfast for me. One by one delicious smells filled the room, but it reached the point where I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat everything she was making. Hamburgers, beef stew, fried shrimp, gratin, it was like she was making me the entire menu of my family restaurant.

Ria, who was wearing her school swimsuit, was bringing a fork to my mouth and feeding me delicious food. It was like an amazing dream– but wait a second, this is too good to be true, this is a dream isn’t it? Is this what they call lucid dreaming? I want to enjoy this, but I have to go to work today…

–JIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRIRI—

「Ugh, so loud… 」

It sounded like the old-fashioned ringer alarm I have set on my smartphone. I reached over to stop the alarm. There was a message written on the screen. That’s weird, I don’t use that feature on my phone at all.

「It says… “Master, please sleep well.” Huh? I’m already sleeping well. It’s only 10 after all… WAIT IT’S 10?! 」

But I’m certain that today’s work was from 8 AM to 3 PM! I could have sworn I set my alarm for 7. Don’t tell me that Shizuku?! She must have gone to work at the family restaurant instead of me! It’s okay, calm down, there’s no way someone from the other world can exit out into Japan.

「Wait… Shizuku can extend her body can’t she? What if she could flatten and lengthen herself out, hold a part of me, and then exit out into my world… 」

I suddenly jumped up out of bed. Ria was in the living room, so I spoke to her.

「Master Thor, is your condition doing okay? 」

「Huh? My condition? 」

「Yes, you awoke a few hours earlier, but told me you weren’t feeling very well, so you went back to sleep. Are you feeling alright? 」

I was asked some more questions by a concerned Ria. But that person earlier was definitely Shizuku disguised as me.

「H-ha, I’m fully healed! 」

「I-Is that so? 」

While saying that I started shaping four onigiri¹. And then while eating one of those, I spoke out to Ria again.

「Ria, have you already eaten breakfast? 」

「But Master Thor, are you not the one who made a sandwich for me earlier? 」

「Oh, did I? 」

Sandwiches are also on the menu at my family restaurant. We don’t have all of the ingredients, so she probably just made something similar to it. Looks like she didn’t just have a copy ability, but amazing adaptability as well.

「There’s a Great Sage council meeting happening soon, so I have to head out using teleportation magic. I feel bad but, for lunch please eat these things called onigiri. 」

「O-Okay. 」

I made preparations to exit out through the washroom.

「I’ll be back later! 」

For a moment, I made it look like I would head out into the dungeon from the front door, but I just grabbed my shoes near the entrance and went out through the window. The sun shined down on me. It was definitely lunch time.

I started running to work. It was about 10:30 now. I guess since I hadn’t gotten a phone call from work, Shizuku must not have been discovered yet. I don’t know. I finally made it to the family restaurant. I was about to walk into the shop, but then I realized something.

「WAIT WAIT! If they see two copies of myself in there, people are going to start freaking out! 」

For now, it would be safer to look into the restaurant from the window on the outside.

「It doesn’t look like it’s too busy yet. I can’t really see all the way to the kitchen, but the customers are all receiving what looked to be normal orders. 」

I wonder if I should just go home after all. It doesn’t seem like there’s any trouble going on with the shop or with me but… I just feel really bad about having someone take my work and do it for me. I can’t just let the slime who trusts and loves humans do these kinds of things for me, it’s like taking advantage of her.

「Okay, it’s decided! 」

「Wel…come~ 」

That reminds me, today was Saturday, wasn’t it? I remembered, a high school girl named Tatsuishi was working the front of the restaurant today. Her greeting kind of died down midway through. But that was to be expected with how I was dressed. I was wearing giant one-dollar sunglasses, a mask, and a large hat.

「J-Just one person today? 」

Despite being a high school girl, Tatsuishi was more of a clever, cool beauty rather than an energetic cutesy type, so she surely must have realized how suspicious I looked. I’m sorry Tatsuishi, please forgive me.

「Why yes! One person! 」

「T-Then please follow me this way. 」

I was seated at the end in a really well-lit area. It was the perfect spot for my investigations. I ordered at the same time I was seated.

「I’ll take the mixed grill set please! 」

「Okay, we’ll have that out to you in a few minutes… 」

After a bit of waiting, the mixed grill set arrived at my table. A Hamburg steak, some teriyaki chicken, and sausage arrived at my table all on a hot plate. The vegetable garnishes were also presented quite beautifully.

「They’re presented exquisitely! 」

I took a few bites and pushed the button used to call over the waitress. It was still early afternoon, so the peak time hadn’t arrived yet. Tatsuishi came immediately.

「What can I get for you? 」

「This dish, it is simply wonderful! 」

「Huh? Uhh, thank you? 」

This is it. I decided to become the type of awkward customer who wants to give his thanks to the staff. But my objective was to go even beyond this!

「The chef, you simply must call the chef over here for me! 」

「Uh…the chef? 」

Her well lit face had the confused look of “this is a fast food restaurant” on it. But no matter what awkward situation or face she shows me, I had to press on!

「This meal is amazing, I simply mussssst give my thanks to the chef! Puhleeeeease call them for me! 」

「O-O-O-Okay. I’m going to get them. 」

This kind of event will be one month, no, three months, this kind of awkward customer will be the topic of conversation for at least three months, I’m sure. From the kitchen, I saw myself coming over and smiling with a grin. Shizuku definitely had the grin of “my food was so delicious that someone wants to compliment my work”. It’s a relief though, if someone else had come out this might have ruined my plan.

「Sorry to keep you waiting… wait… Master? 」

For Shizuku, even if I was wearing big sunglasses, a mask, and a large hat, I guess I was identifiable immediately.

「The mixed grill was really tasty. I’ve been really wanting to make this for about 3 months now, but you definitely created this dish while thinking of the customer. 」

「T-Thank you so much! 」

「Anyways, i’ll be waiting in the bathroom stall. 」

「Huh? But- 」

Before I could hear what Shizuku was saying, I headed to the bathroom. After a few moments Shizuku joined me. The two of us were in the bathroom stall together.

「Seriously! Shizuku! What are you doing?! 」

「I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t discovered by anyone though… 」

「That’s not the point! But it’s fine, I’m going to take over from here on. 」

「Did I cause some trouble for you? 」

「That’s not it either. For now, let’s just trade places. 」

I said it to Shizuku nicely and smiled as much as I could. She was working for my sake after all. I handed over the mask, sunglasses, and hat.

「I’m going to head out first, so I want you to come out a little bit after me okay? You can go back to the table and eat the rest of my mixed grill set. And then head home after that and be with Ria. 」

I also handed over the $12 that would pay for the mixed grill set.

「Ah…thank you, Master… 」

「Okay, I’m leaving it to you now. 」

After that I headed to the kitchen.

After a long day, I finished up my work and was about to head home.

「Ahh I’m so tired. But for some reason I feel like my reputation here has somehow increased. Even the normally cold Tatsuishi was unnaturally nice to me for some reason. 」

I wonder if Shizuku did something. I’m afraid to ask. To think, all this stuff that happened to me after going to this weird discount apartment. Eventually I saw my apartment building.

「Thinking about it, if I enter right now, there will be two of me. 」

If it was Ria, I didn’t necessarily care if our secret was exposed, it would be easier to explain to her anyways. I opened the window to the room and peeked inside. There was no one inside. When I stepped on the tatami floor, I lost my footing on something squishy.

「Uwah! 」

When I let out a shriek, the door to the tatami room opened and Ria appeared.

「Ah, Master Thor. This is where you were hiding? 」

I see. Shizuku must have transformed into the tatami mat. She must have estimated when I would come home and hid herself somewhere. And then she made me step on her so that I would understand.

「Ahahaha, sorry sorry! 」

「You’re quite adept at disappearing, aren’t you, Master Thor? 」

Ria and Shizuku must have been playing around before she hid herself. That was probably also part of Shizuku’s plan preparing for me to get home.

「Well, I’m going to go polish my armor now! 」

Ria went to go do her daily polishing in the living room. The transformed Shizuku talked to me in a quiet voice.

「Master, I apologize. Did I selfishly decide to do something and cause problems for you earlier? 」

「No, it’s nothing like that. It’s fine. But from here on out, if things get really desperate, I might ask you to do something like that for me again, so it’s fine, don’t worry. 」

「I understand. But why did you do that, may I ask? I asked my companions, they said it is normal for humans to make us work. And I even eat and make your food expenses go up. 」

If I hadn’t heard about this from Shizuku earlier, I also might have taken advantage of her. But among all the white slimes who don’t trust humans that much, there is just Shizuku, who actually does believe in and love us.

「Shizuku. My job is something I should do. I’ll ask you to do other things, but not that. 」

「Master 」

Half of my consciousness stems from my grandma’s teachings.

「I wish that everyone could become Master’s! 」

「Huh? 」

When she says everyone, does she mean the other white slimes?

「Everyone… they live deep underground, in a harsh environment. I wish that you would become master of all of them… 」

「I-I’m just one person. I can’t see and look after every single one of the white slimes like that. 」

「I see… that is unfortunate. 」

I made Shizuku a little depressed. I will eventually explore the dungeon, but I don’t even know if I can make it that far down there. It would be nice if we could find all of Shizuku’s friends and come live with them above ground though. After meeting Ria, I knew that not all of the other world’s people were bad. They surely aren’t all the type of people to abuse the white slimes. I got into the same bed with Ria again today. And after Ria fell asleep, Shizuku joined in with us.

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