Volume 8 - CH 13

Chapter 13 – Tame and Mineral Deposits

We invite the red slime into the rubber boat. He’s so jiggly, soft, and very cute. If this child can be tamed, will Rimu and Fuu be able to play with this child? I am so excited.

“What does the slime say, Rimu?”

I think it would be better to have Rimu between us instead of me talking to him.

“Look outside.”

“Outside? Does he want to look outside the cave?”

“Yes.”

So he wants to look outside. Maybe he’s never been out of the cave. Maybe Rimu told him about the outside, and he became interested.

“He’s more than welcome to come with us, but can you tell him that he can’t come back here anytime soon?”

“I told him.”

“…It’s okay…”

Oh, he answered me directly. I’m glad. Now I just have to make sure he is safe even if the temperature drops. If he lived near the magma, it might be cold outside.

“Hey, it’s cold outside compared to this place. Is that okay?”

“…?…”

If he doesn’t understand or know what’s out there, then it’s difficult. But what can I explain to him to make him understand?　

“Let’s see, are you okay on this boat? Is it cold?”

“…It’s okay…”

If he’s okay in the rubber boat that has a heat shield, then he’s okay, right? I can’t go any further with my ability to explain, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I just have to make sure I don’t burn myself touching him and leave it to Dorothea-san.

“Do you think it’s okay to touch you? Won’t it burn me?”

I think it’s okay since we have a heat shield and the temperature inside the ship hasn’t risen, but I still have to be careful.

“…?…”

He doesn’t seem to understand very well.

“Do you mind if I touch you a little?”

As Rimu approaches him, they seem to be having some kind of conversation.

“…Yeah…”

Rimu persuaded him to let me touch him. He looks a little scared, for which I apologize. I moved my hand closer to him. I could not feel any heat, even at the distance where I could touch him. First, I poked him with the tip of my finger.

I did not feel any heat, and it was slippery and smooth, characteristic of slime. He is afraid, so I immediately stop touching him. It seems to be fine.

“Dorothea-san, please talk to him now and offer him a contract. However, since he is anxious, please speak calmly and gently, not in a hurry or in a loud voice.”

I pick up the red slime and gently place him in front of Dorothea-san. Dorothea-san’s eyes are glued to the slime. I hope she doesn’t frighten him.

“Rimu, since he seems anxious, will you stay next to the child?”

“Yes.”

He moves with a plop and then snuggles up next to the red slime. Cute. Dorothea-san’s eyes were in dangerous territory… and it might have had the opposite effect.

“Dorothea-san, I’ve told you many times, please calm down.”

“Yes, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

Dorothea-san takes a deep breath. I want her to be fine because this is where the real work begins.

“My name is Dorothea. Do you have a name?”

She seems a little nervous but speaks carefully so as not to frighten the red slime.

“I see, you don’t have one. Wataru-san said your beautiful color is called scarlet or beni, so may I call you Beni-chan?”

[T/n: Well, it’s just red.]

Huh? Is that where she got it from? Scarlet is kind of cooler, right? It’s a temporary name, right?

“Fufu, that’s right. I’m Dorothea, and you’re Beni-chan.”

It seems to have been decided that it was Beni-chan. Is that what she wants?

“Yes, we’ll go outside. We’ll go to lots of places, and I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

I think Dorothea-san and Beni-chan are talking happily. I am just guessing since Beni-chan’s thoughts do not reach me.

Dorothea-san seems to have calmed down and is patting Beni-chan lovingly. There seems to be no problem, so I call Rimu back and wait for Beni-chan while I pet Rimu, too. I think it’s okay because Dorothea-san smiles sometimes.

After a while, Dorothea-san started to concentrate, and a magic circle appeared in front of Beni-chan. Finally, it was time.

As I watched with excitement, Beni-chan accepted the magic circle and was sucked into his body. The taming was a success. Dorothea-san was so moved that she hugged Beni-chan. I’ve seen something great.

“Congratulations, Dorothea-san! Take care of Beni-chan too.”

“Thank you very much. It was thanks to you, Wataru-san.”

“Yeah…”

Rimu also approached Beni-chan and said something to him. Is he congratulating him?

“Dorothea-san, what kind of slime was Beni-chan?”

Dorothea-san checks his status with a relieved look on her face. She was so happy that she forgot about it. I know exactly how that feels.

“Beni-chan was a Blaze Slime.”

Blaze Slime… I’m sure it meant scorching heat. I guess he was a fire slime, but it wasn’t fire; it was searing heat beyond the flames. Scorching Heat Slime… That’s cool.

“It sounds strong. …I look forward to the adventures we will have together. “

“Yes!”

She looks so happy. She’s been waiting for this for a long time.

“Shall we go back?”

“Yes.”

Rowing the oar, we moved to the bottom of the hole we came down from. While we were moving, Dorothea-san was worshipping Beni-chan. This is good.

When we arrived at the bottom of the hole, there were four ropes hanging from the top. We quickly secure them and tie them to the four corners. When we signal up, the ropes are slowly pulled up, and the rubber boat floats away.

I used the oars to keep the boat from hitting the cliff. I was afraid of going down, but I was also afraid of going up. I was afraid of both.

We arrived safely at the hole, with a calm expression on my face, and were greeted by the rest of the group. I told Ines and Felicia that everything was fine, and Dorothea-san happily reported that she had tamed Beni-chan.

“Master, how was the magma?”

Ines asks curiously.

“Well, to be honest, there wasn’t much for Ines to enjoy. You can’t go outside the barrier, so it was no different than usual, except that it was stickier than on the water, which made it harder for the rubber boat to move, but the scenery was beautiful.

“Is it?”

“Yes, because if we didn’t make things normal, we’d be dead.”

“…If you say so, I guess that’s true.”

I could see how Ines’ tension visibly decreased. I guess she was thinking that she might be next, but she seemed to have lost interest in that idea. She used to be an adventurer, so I guess she likes unusual things.

“There’s no point talking about this here, so let’s talk about it in the Hideaway. Let’s go, Alessia-san and everyone else.”

We enter the Hideaway and rest with a glass of cold juice. My eyes are entertained by Rimu, Fuu-chan, and Beni-chan.

Whether they have quickly become friends or are showing off the Hideaway, they are moving around the ship, gathering, and twitching.

I imagine they are teaching Beni-chan how to do things like “This is where we eat” and “This is where you press the button to turn on the light.” How cute.

I suddenly noticed that Dorothea-san and Marina-san were standing next to me, both with their eyes glued to Rimu and the others. It’s nice to have comrades to share your feelings with, isn’t it? Oh, they are approaching us.　

“Wataru, angel.”

Rimu says I’m an angel… Well, I know he wants to transform, doesn’t he? As you can imagine, I couldn’t even try to translate it in my head.　

“You want to become an angel?”

“Yes, I’ll show.”

“…Want to see…”

“…Want to see…”

Apparently, the subject of angels came up in the conversation.

“Okay, good luck with that.”

“Yeah.”

When I say that, Rimu emits light and turns into an angel. He turns into an angel and flies up to around my chest. Fuu-chan and Beni-chan jump around Rimu excitedly. 

Perhaps satisfied, when Rimu reversed the transformation, Fuu-chan and Beni-chan jumped on Marina-san and Dorothea-san.　

“Eh? Leveling up, evolution? Fuu-chan is doing her best, so don’t worry. Let’s not be in a hurry and do our best.”

Fuu-chan is asking Marina-san to level up again, isn’t she? Then…

“Eh, yeah, you’re right. Beni-chan can level up too. Yeah, stone-throwing? Oh, you want to practice stone-throwing.”

Apparently, Rimu and Fuu-chan were teaching Beni-chan about the need to level up and how to do it. I guess Rimu wanted to transform because he wanted to show Beni-chan what would happen when he evolved. It seems that the room tour I imagined was different from what I expected.

As a result, it seems to have sparked the motivation of Fuu-chan and Beni-chan. Fuu-chan must have known about it originally, but was she motivated by it?

At the request of Rimu and the others, Beni-chan’s stone-throwing class was held in a hurry. We did the same with Fuu-chan, but the difference was that the stones she threw became much more powerful.

Beni-chan can only throw the stones lightly now, but I’m sure he’ll be able to throw the stone with great power one day. After the stone-throwing class, we had dinner.

Beni-chan was very excited to try a dish he had never eaten before. Dorothea-san was also excited. She fed Beni-chan, saying, “This is good too,” and “I like this,” and so on.

Since she signed the contract with Beni-chan, Dorothea-san’s rare expression, which I could not see before, is now on full display.

Beni-chan joined in sharing the food, and dinner was over. The ladies, Rimu and Fuu-chan, are used to eating Earth food, so Beni-chan’s reaction made me happy.

The ladies also said it was delicious, but I guess it can’t be helped because once you get used to it, the excitement is lost. I’ll try to find something that will surprise them.

Rimu, Fuu-chan, and Beni-chan, I think the more there are, the more attractive they become. If I didn’t have the summoning slot, I’d make a slime boat. Can’t we build a slime ranch on Dark Elf Island?

Is it a problem to have my own hobby on the busy Dark Elf Island? Hot springs are also my hobby, but it’s useful to everyone, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Is a slime ranch okay because it heals everyone? Maybe I’ll ask the Dark Elves when they have more time?

We all talk and go back to our rooms. I’d like to take a hot spring bath. I should have filled the bathing boat with hot spring water and repatriated it.

That’s right! Should I pour the hot spring water directly into my extra rubber boat when I leave the hot spring? I have about 200 rubber boats that used to carry pepper, so I can go to the hot spring as many times as I want.

I’ll take a bath, hear from Rimu about the joy of having more friends, and go to sleep with some light lovey-dovey fun because I’m so tired today.

………………

“Well, we’re leaving the cave today to look for mineral deposits, right?”

During breakfast, I check the schedule for the day.

“Yes, there’s a lot of room, so let’s do our best to find it.”

Since we’ve come all this way, I hope we find something. If we can find some rare metals or gems, that would be wonderful, wouldn’t it?

“Yes, I’ll do my best to find them!”

I thought I hated caves, but now that there are fewer monsters, I’m getting excited about treasure hunting. After breakfast, we prepare our equipment and head out.

What we do is simple: we look for mineral deposits in places where rock has appeared. I haven’t seen the real thing yet, so everything looks dubious.

Even in the passage, where there are rock formations, I check them carefully and continue. I check the rooms as well, but there are subtle burn marks that are strange. I search for the rock area, keeping anything unpleasant out of sight. The room where we finished our search is lit again.

“We’re not going to find much, are we?”

“There are still four rooms. If we find one, we can make a lot of money depending on the mineral deposits, so let’s keep at it.”

Alessia-san is in a good mood. This is no time to be harmed by the raw ant egg myself. Let’s work hard to increase the suspense. 

As we continued to search, Marina-san shouted.

“I found a mineral deposit.”

We hurry to check… Hmm? Is this the mineral deposit? A white stone-like streak branched out from the bottom to the top.

“So this white stone is the mineral deposit. What kind of mineral deposit is it?”

“It is hard to say what kind of mineral deposit it is because mineral deposits are often a mixture of many different metals. If this mineral deposit turns out to be good, there is a possibility that several kinds of metals can be extracted from it. But look carefully here.”　

I looked carefully at the spot Marina-san pointed to and saw small grains of gold.

“Is that gold? If it’s a deposit of gold, that would be amazing!”

My voice grew louder with excitement.

“Wataru-san, don’t be in such a hurry. It might be gold, but it might not be gold. There are similar metals out there, so let’s have someone who can use earth magic check it thoroughly.”

Hmm, there is a possibility that it is not gold. But now that we know where the deposit is, it will be easier to find. If we find a lot of it, we will probably find a valuable deposit. Iron deposits are also a valuable treasure on this island.

Come to think of it, I’ve heard that gold can be extracted from copper. I read in a novel that foreigners bought copper ingots during the Warring States period. It’s getting fun.