CH 88

Chapter 88 – Please Drive Safely

“Walk, walk; I’m so glad Kosuke and I went for a walk.”

Back at the slime girls’ waiting room, it was decided that Lime would accompany me and show me the places that looked like good mining points. Lime, who had been chosen to guide me, was bouncing around in front of me in a good mood.

While Beth kept her upper body humanoid and crawled along at my walking speed, Lime seemed to like to take the form of a large bun and bounce along. I guess this is where their personalities come out.

“As I said before, I need some clay first. Will that be okay?”

“Probably? There’s some part in the underground passage that’s broken. And the clay is spilling out there.”

“That’s good. How far away is that?”

“Hmm, about 30 minutes’ walk at this speed?”

“That’s pretty far.”

If it is a thirty-minute walk, the distance traveled is probably less than three kilometers. It was the same with the black forest and then the establishment of the base after that, why the clay is so delicately far away… Well, if it’s about 30 minutes, it’s within the acceptable range. If I can learn the route, I will be able to shorten the time. I can build a direct road if necessary.

“Are there any places where I could mine for ore?”

“Hmm? What kind of places in particular?”

“You know, where there’s bare rock.”

“No? I wonder?”

“Seriously… well, it’s obvious, huh?”

If you want to build an underground passage, it will obviously be in the way, or maybe they built the castle in a place where there is no such thing in the first place. No, even if there were, there is magic in this world… and it might have been hollowed out with good earth magic or something.

“Poizo can use a little bit of earth magic, you know? Since she can use it, she might be able to help you if you ask her.”

“I guess so. If Lime doesn’t have any idea, there’s no point in digging around in the dark.”

It is possible that if I just keep digging underground, I might hit bedrock, but I’m afraid of digging underground… There are breathing problems and lighting problems.

The lighting problem seems to be solved now that I know that the torches I installed don’t deplete oxygen for some reason, but it’s still dangerous. Also, I don’t have enough materials to reinforce the mine. I’m afraid of being buried alive.

“Hey hey, Kosuke, why aren’t you scared of Lime and the others?”

“Hmm? Is it because there is no reason to be afraid?”

I answered in confusion at the sudden question. I’m not sure why she’s asking me that. I feel like I can only say that I am not afraid because I am just not afraid.

“The people of the Holy Kingdom are afraid of Lime and the others.”

“Isn’t that because the people of the Holy Kingdom equate Lime and the others with the monster slime? If I had seen the monster slime first, I might have been afraid of Lime and the others, too.”

“Do you think so?”

“Maybe.”

We walked through the dimly lit underground passage while having a loose conversation. Incidentally, I had brought along a reasonably sized piece of wood with lighting magic applied to it as a light source. I told Beth about it, and she put it on right away. It glows for about six hours, so it’s handy, isn’t it?

I had Isla do the same thing for me when I was working on reinforcing the defensive wall before. I guess my experience came in handy.

We proceeded through the dark sewer, got Lime to pull me up and climb the wall, destroyed the stone floor next to the iron bars again, and crawled up to the underground passage to continue.

The slime girls agreed that it was okay to destroy the stone floor next to the iron bars. The people from the Holy Kingdom knew that Lime and the others were probably hiding in the underground passages of this castle, and no one would bother to go down to such a dangerous place.

In addition to that, it is unlikely that anyone would step into a hole that is obviously leading to a sewer, so there is no problem. It’s a good thing because even if they do come in, the advantage of the land is completely on the side of the slime girls, and they have nothing to fear.

“It’s the kind of carelessness that will get you killed, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a matter of carelessness; it’s a matter of today’s flexibility.”

“Is that so…?

The top half of Lime’s body extends from the giant slime bun and makes a smug face. It’s incredible how much mass is emphasized on top of the folded arms.

No, don’t be fooled, me. That’s just slime. They’re not boobs. Theirs are fake breasts that can be reshaped and resized as desired.

In the first place, they have no tits, no ass, no thighs, no nothing. No matter what shape they are, they are just a part of their body. I should not be led to look at them.

That’s… No, I wasn’t being led. It’s just because I can’t go against my male instincts. I’m sure the innocent Lime has no such intentions. I feel a great sense of self-loathing because it seems so.

“What’s wrong? Oh, you want to touch me?”

“No, I won’t touch you.”

Don’t make that smile while puffing. This reaction is innocent but is not without the intention of seducing me, right…? I-I don’t know. I can’t read Lime’s thoughts. Help me, Sylphy.

☆★☆

“….!?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I think Kosuke just asked me for help…?”

“Hmm… We need to hurry.”

“As long as we can locate him, we’ll have a chance… I’m counting on you, Isla.”

“Leave it to me.”

☆★☆

After resisting Lime’s innocent temptation, I finally arrived at the clay mining site and decided to start mining. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any iron tools yet, so a shovel made of stone was my companion.

“Alright, let’s do it!”

“Oh!”

I thrust the stone shovel into the clay that was exposed through the hole in the stone wall of the underground passage. Next to me, Lime is also digging with a part of her body propped up against the clay wall. Digging, you say…? Eh?

“Lime?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“What’s that?”

“Hmm?”

“No, you’re digging the dirt.”

“Even Lime loves to dig in the dirt. Even the armor of the Holy Kingdom’s knights could be dug up.”

“I-I see… keep it up.”

“Okay.”

Lime transformed parts of her body into multiple shovel-like shapes and scraped away the clay walls with speed reminiscent of me using an iron shovel. The quintessential physics-specialized slime… this one is strong.

We dug side by side for a while, but Lime’s mining speed was faster than mine. If only I had mithril… or at least an iron shovel!

“It’s Lime’s victory.”

“I don’t think I can win, though…”

“Is the contest over?”

Yes, I think the contest is over. We’ve been digging for about an hour, and I think Lime has dug twice as much as I have. No, I had to collect the clay that Lime dug up too, right? In the first place, I used a stone shovel. I can’t be blamed for losing because I’m not in serious mode yet.

“Fufu, I’ll win next time.”

“Then I’ll be more serious.”

“O-ou.”

Lime was digging out the clay at an amazing speed, but apparently, she wasn’t serious yet. F-fufu, I still have two more transformations left. I’m not yet serious. Don’t worry; I’ll win next time.

“Are we done?”

“I think we have enough for the time being. It’s not like I’m building a big wall.”

“I see. So we’re going back?”

“Yeah, I guess. Let’s take a short walk and go back after that?”

“Yes! Let’s go take a walk and go home! I think Kosuke is getting tired, so Lime will carry you home!”

Lime clung to my body with a quick movement, and before I knew it, I was in the position of a king sitting on a throne. The cushioning against the back of my head is excellent… No, I shouldn’t worry about it. It’s just a part of Lime’s body. Yeah.

“Time to depart!”

Lime, holding me in her arms, begins to slide smoothly. This is a very new kind of ride… What is it? It’s like a wheelchair with no shaking at all.

“What do you think?”

“It’s quite comfortable. Can’t you go any faster?”

“Yes. Then.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

What used to be the speed of a brisk walk becomes the speed of a gallop… or maybe a little faster? It’s about the speed of a normal bicycle. The underground passage is not that wide, so it feels much faster.

“Amazing, amazing, it’s so fast.”

“Mufu, I can still do better.”

“Eh? No, just this much is enough.”

“Then.”

“Whoaaaaaaaaー!”

The speed increased to that of a bicycle pedaled with great energy. Even though we are carrying a piece of wood that has been enchanted with lighting magic, the illuminated area is not very wide. It is as if we are plunging at high speed into the darkness, unable to see what lies ahead. This is just…

In other words, it’s horrifying. If anything, it’s as if a wall is suddenly coming at me out of the darkness, and I have to turn almost at a right angle. The inertia is absorbed by the soft and pliable body of Lime, but scary things are still scary.

“Fast, fast, fast! This is really scary!”

“Eh? I was just about to do more.”

Lime might be a speed freak. I’ve heard of speed-crazed slimes… No, I think the metal guys in some famous RPGs might be like that*.

[T/n: I’m just a nerd, so let me know if anyone knows about this xD]

By the way, why do the metal guys in that world have such weak… but subtle fighting abilities? I feel like if they were fast enough and hard enough, they could kill a Hero with one hit.

Lime and the others are like that when they appear in the game. They’re like back bosses or hidden bosses. Or they’re the kind of bosses that you can’t fight, and you have to use gimmicks and stuff to avoid them. If you push yourself, you can beat them or get rid of them, but it’s like an endless spring.

It’s very reassuring to be friendly to them. If you stay under their protection, your safety is guaranteed.

“Should we head back now?”

“Yeah, okay.”

After some trouble with Lime trying to slip through the bars with me on board and me being left behind, Lime and I returned to the slime girls’ room.

“Welcome back.”

“Welcome back-nanodesu.”

“I’m back. It was a nice walk.”

“It was quite a thrill…”

“I took Kosuke for a ride, and he went flying.”

The two girls looked at me with pity as if they had guessed what had happened from my appearance and Lime’s words. They should have warned me beforehand… I was seriously scared.

“Did you get what you wanted?”

“Yeah, no problem. I’ve got enough clay. I’m going to make a simple furnace.”

“Okay. I’ll get you some fuel.”

“Thanks.”

I opened the crafting menu and selected “Simple Furnace” to start crafting.

・Simple furnace――: Animal Hide x 3, Stone x 20, Clay x 5, Wood x 5.

Good, good, I have enough materials. I quickly built a simple furnace and set it up in the corner of the room. The slime girls shouted in surprise, “Oh!” I guess I’ve only shown them food. I also showed Beth and Lime how to store items, though.

“This is a simple furnace. It can be used to make basic iron tools.”

“I see?”

“I’m not sure how great it is-nodesu.”

“Right.”

It’s just a small, crude furnace.

“Try this.”

“Oh, thank you… Is this part of your body?”

“Yes.”

The fuel Beth gave me was a kind of shiny red charcoal. It was surprisingly heavy, and if it burned like coal or coke (Carbon Fuel), it would certainly be a good source of heat.

“I’ll be grateful to use it.”

“Yeah, go ahead. I don’t think there will be any toxic emissions when you burn it, but be careful, okay?”

“All right. Leave it to me.”

Poizo nodded at Beth’s concern about the poisonous gas. After confirming this, I opened the menu of the simple furnace and put Beth’s magic fuel in the fuel section. Yeah, I put it in my inventory, and it said “Beth’s Magic Fuel.” It’s no ordinary fuel, after all.

“How is it?”

“Oh, it’s good. It seems that just one of these can burn for three hours. I’ve used a lot of fuel in the past, but Beth’s magic fuel is the most efficient.”

“Fufu, it’s obvious.”

Beth seemed to be in a very good mood, probably because she was happy that her creations were well received.

I then put the scrap iron that I had collected from the junk into the materials box and started to cast it as an iron resource. Thanks to a good heat source, I feel like I’m getting a fast return on my iron resources.

When I had enough resources, I crafted an anvil and a hammer, and now I started making iron tools. The three slime girls seemed to be interested in the anvil, hammer, steel pickaxe, shovel, ax, and other metal tools that suddenly appeared over time.

“It’s amazing how easy it is to make something like this. It’s incredible-nodesu.”

“It’s so shiny and pretty!”

“I thought the story of Kosuke alone supporting the Liberation Army’s logistics was a bit fanciful, but this makes sense now.”

Once the basic tools were in place, it was time to build a basic workbench, make small tools, and assemble various parts.

・Basic Toolbox ― Material: Sturdy Wooden Box x 1, Metal Tools x 8, Mechanical Parts x 2

・Vise ― Material: Iron x 20, Mechanical Parts x 10

・Basic Workbench ― Materials: Wood x 10, Nails x 40, Vise x 1, Basic Toolbox x 1

Combine the finished items to create the basic workbench. The next step would be to upgrade the workbench by a step…

・Workbench Upgrade――: Mechanical Parts x 10, Steel Leaf Springs x 5, Leather Straps x 2

・Simple Furnace Upgrade――: Animal Hide x 5, Brick x 50, Whetstone x 3, Machine Parts x 10

“Hmm, I’m running low on materials.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. I want to make a more advanced workbench, but I need to upgrade the furnace in order to do so, and I need a whetstone for that. Besides, I’m fundamentally short of iron and leather.”

Aside from the clay to make bricks, the animal hides and leather straps from the leather goods in the junkyard were not enough. I had a lot of scrap iron, but I used most of it to make basic tools and a simple workbench.

“I have an idea about the iron. But the whetstone…”

“I have some idea. I’ll go get some tomorrow.”

“The only way to get the leather is from the big rats that sometimes come from the waterway.”

“I feel bad for relying on you three… So, I’ll bring out some food for you today.”

The three of them looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

“Well, I won’t hesitate then.”

“Yeah, we’ll savor it.”

“It’s all about to give and take. We’ll have lots of it tonight.”

“Oh, leave it to me.”

There are still more non-perishable food items in my inventory. Fufu, I have enough food storage.

By the way, I feel like their gaze is strangely entwined with my body, but it’s just my imagination, right? They can’t eat my body, right? No, I guess they can eat me, but please spare me. It’s not funny at all.