Chapter 5 - Is a slime something to catch?

On the third day, Falco ate a delicious breakfast prepared by Shou and went out hunting in a good mood. His eyes are light brown and his face is deep in the dust, but he has dark hair and is always in a good mood, and Falco looks like the neighbor's Japanese brother, which doesn't feel very otherworldly.

“One of these days, you'll understand when you get to town, but maybe it's because Deep Forest is in the north, but there are a lot of eyes and hair that are the same color as Leon's”
“Will Falco and I stand out?”
“Many of colour like us are on the plains. My mother was a hunter, she liked to travel around. I was born on the plains. So I stand out, but it's not that unusual”
“Oh, and Falco's father....”
“He's on the plains. There aren't many monsters on the plains, and Mother got bored with them and came back soon after. Two hundred years is a long time, and it's good to associate with all kinds of people”
“200! You're going to live to be 200?”
“Hmm? Of course, not...do you think you'll be an adult at 20 and have kids until 150 or so? I might go a little further”
“Whoa”
“So, you know, men and women, they've got to get their hands on some serious work so that they can keep their jobs for a long time”
“Yes!”
“Well, I think it's time to start sword training”
“Eh, Falco”

I told you I wouldn't do the sword. I was about to say that, but Falco said,

“You have to defeat at least one slime first, right?”

He said stupidly. What the hell!

“I mean, I can beat it”
“You said it right? I'm looking forward to it”

Oops. I shouldn't have done that. Shou regrets it. After thinking about it, it's a good thing I didn't train for the sword if I couldn't defeat the slime. But I don't want to waste the past two days of diligent effort, either.

Once he'd finished cleaning up the hut, Shou lowered the tub of water into his hand, tucked the chopsticks into Falco's jacket, and held a long branch. The dagger was inserted into a strap like a sash over Falco's shirt.

“This looks like a guy on a fishing trip”

Vainly talking to myself, I headed off in a daze to find the slime, but it was everywhere enough that I didn't need to look for it.

Chon. Poking at the slime. Swoosh. Sneeze out acid. Chop. Shh. After poking it twice with a long branch, I boldly approached it and swooped in and sliced through the slime with my dagger. The slime quietly lost its shape, and soon a light blue magic stone remained.

I grab it with my sticks and let the sun shine through it.

“Beautiful”

I changed the water in the tub for every 10 magical stones I collected. Thus, I had accumulated 30 Magic Stones by noon.

I'm bored. There are still plenty of slimes.

I spent the afternoon checking food, making soup, and slicing thin slices of dried meat and bread. 10 years old is not that small. Still, I'm not as skillful as an adult, and it takes a long time to peel and cut both potatoes and vegetables.

Still, I can take my time with the cooking. When I think back to my busy days, I'm very happy about that.

“I'm home! Shou!”
“Welcome back! Falco”

Falco always picks up Shou. He looks like he's in his 20s. He's a hunter, and he's tough. Children are meant to be lifted up, and since I don't know enough about this world to disagree with Falco's assertion that children are meant to be lifted up, I'm held up as an adult.


“I wonder if you managed to beat the slime today.”
“Yup!”
“Oh! Really? I hope you didn't get hurt. Did you carry a potion?”

Oh. I forgot.

“If you're hurt and it's too soon, the potion will help you heal. A hunter's gotta have it with him”

I'm not trying to be a hunter. But I'll try not to forget. I don't want to leave a mark. Anyway, look!

“You, this is....”
“I stopped after 30”
“Oh, I see. You did it...”

Falco looks disappointed.

“I can take the day off when Leon comes over so see how you hunt the slime. Hey, why are you wrinkling your nose?”

I mean, you look re a fisherman. Not cool.

“As a caretaker, I have a right, no, a duty to see to it”

He said it's his right! I'm sure he's amused. Well, it's fine.

“Well, the slime is all over the place, and it is problematic. 30 slimes a day.”
“What? I get tired of it”
“You ... you have to do it even if you get tired of it.”
“Yes”

And so, after spending four days with the slime, the day of rest came.

“Come on, let's hunt some slime!”

Falco looks happy. It couldn't be helped. Shou sighed and headed to the bedroom. Hey, why the bedroom? Falco was taken aback. Shou had gone to get a piece of string to use as an obi.

In front of Falco's eyes, Shou spun around and tightened the obi. After filling the bucket with water and tucking two thin sticks and a dagger into the obi with its entire sheath, she looked at Falco intently. Shou doesn't talk a lot. That's why she says things with her eyes. This means she's done with all the preparations she can do at home, so let's go outside. I understand. I follow Shou as she heads outside. What are those two sticks, by the way? Is that in the hut?

Once outside, she picked up a long branch that was propped up against the wall and looked at Falco. Hmmm, I guess she's ready to go. But. It, that thing,

“You, oma, fishing, fisherman, ugh, haha”

I couldn't hold back. As I was holding my stomach and laughing, something snapped and hit me below the knee.

“Shou, dangerous, don't hit me with a stick, ouch, haha, sorry, ouch, good sword stance, Shou, good hunter, ouch”

Yeah, it's a sharp attack. She has the aptitude for a sword. But I had a hard time calming Shou down when she wasn't in a good mood. I tease her too much, that's not good.

But Falco couldn't hide his surprise. What about himself? Of course, I could take down any number of slimes and dozens of them. But, you know, when I was a kid, I never took them down so easily. I competed with my friends for the number of acid attacks. It was fun to be on the safe side of the slime, but, well, Shou's approach was to play it safe. Definitely. She doesn’t even use magic.

She grabbed the magic stone with two weird sticks and flung it into the tub. Then it was over.

It's true that there aren't that many slimes around town. But this way, one can make a living with only hunting slime. She doesn’t need me to ... no, no, no, people don't live by slime alone. Hey, it's Leon.

“Falco, there's someone else in there besides Leon”

Shou's vision had returned, so she could see farther away. Falco can see more further because he is a hunter.

“You're right. Hey, geez, how did the monk........”
“What do you think? Falco, why do you look so nervous?”
“No, I didn't do anything wrong, right, all right, it's going to fine”
“Falco”
“What, what is it, Shou”
“What's wrong?”
“The monk. Highest person in the church. I think he was here to see Shou”
“For me?”
“You're someone who can use healing magic, after all”
“Ohh!”

Oh, finally!

← Previous Chapter                             Next Chapter  →

No comments:

Post a Comment