Chapter - 4 Slime is a must, right?

“I'd love to go into town once with Shou, but I've got a contract to be here”

Falco spoke to Leon as he returned to town.

“Yeah. I'll see you in a week”
“In the meantime, a set of clothes for the child and more food need I think”
“All right. And don't forget to contact the guild master and the church”
“I will be in your care”

When Leon turn toward Shou,

“I'd like to take you to your adoptive parents, but Falco's being selfish, so you'll have to live here for the winter”

And then he patted my head. It's currently eleven months, he said. It's been twenty years since I've been patted on the head?

“Yes”
“You are good kid”

He left in a soothing way. I guess they really do care about children.

“Well, Shou, I'm here to guard the North Woods for the winter.”
“Guard?”

Falco said he was a hunter.

“You don't know anything about the North Forest or the Hunter, do you?”
“Yes”
“Ah ~”

Falco explained briefly as he tapped my head like a ton, ton with his right hand. During the winter months, the number of monsters in the northern forest increases. The presence of a strong hunter in this hut at the entrance of the forest reduces the number of demons that go into town. The hunter gets paid just for staying and even more for selling the monsters he defeated. If one is skilled, it's a great job, and it's been a staple winter job for years.

“Normally I've already got a couple of groups with me so we can take turns going into town, but this year it's just me”

So, I've got an interesting child all to myself, Falco continued in his mind.

“Anyway, I'm hunting in the afternoon, so Shou is alone, but I'm sure you'll be bored, so maybe how about you take out the slime”
“Slime! One with watery colour?”
“You know about this? They come in all kinds of colors, but be careful, they spit acid”

He handed me a potion and a dagger and showed me how to defeat the slime. I took it without a second thought. Poke them, make them spit acid, and cut them off at a chance. And then,

“Okay, I'll be back in the evening!”

And as Falco left refreshingly, Shou was stunned to see him off. What, I don't want to fight, oh, I only told the Goddess I don't want to fight? No, I told Falco I wouldn't do the sword either, didn't I? I wonder why I hold a sword.

For now, he taught me how to use the magic stone, so I got the water out, washed my bowl, cleaned up, ate my lunch, and then looked at the dagger I'd left on the table.

Then I remember what Falco said. He said that slime is a demon to be reckoned with, that it's in the grass and can injure children. That it's best to reduce them as much as possible, and then,

“This magic rock has 500 gil each?”

that he said, what's 500 gil?

“You can buy 5 pieces of bread with it”

Shou looked a little disgusted as she remembered how hard the bread was.

“Food is important. Right, then, for those four magic stones, you get one night in the guild inn. Breakfast and dinner included”

The inn! Shou's eyes sparkled.

“So, I can live on 90,000 gil a month?”
“Yeah, I mean, minimally”
“3,000 gil a day? Six slimes? Unreasonably”
” You ... you're a fast at calculating, though you could have easily taken six of them. I'll show you how the kids earn their allowance. You know, herbs and all that”
“Herbs!”

That's what I wanted to do! But in reality, I've only been taught how to defeat slime. It can't be helped, let's just observe it for now.

Shou prepared a tree branch longer than her body and looked for the slime.

This hut has strong barrier stones placed on all sides of the grounds to prevent strong monsters from entering. On the other hand, he said that weaker demons, such as slime and lizards, could be brought in. So there is quite a bit of slime in there.

Shou used the stick to observe the slime spitting acid. The only time a slime would spit acid in alarm was when it was either directly touched, or when it was in an alert position and close enough to. The distance of the spitting acid is approximately two steps in Shaw's large legs. The acid will vomit as fast as it can twice, but not the third time. After a while, it will vomit again.

I ended the first day poking around in slime and observing, and then Falco scolds me for not getting one. The second day was a test of the first. No matter how many times it was repeated, it was the same.

In other words, poke it twice from a distance to make it spit out acid, then cut it off. I was told to wash the magic stone with water magic, but I can't use magic yet. I could make chopsticks out of a branch and rinse it with a tub of water and that would be fine.

There's no denying the fact that I was annoyed with Falco, who looked at Shou with a bit of warmth when I couldn't get anything on the second day either. Falco wants to teach Shou, who couldn't do it, a handful of things, so he's happy that she can't do it.

“We'll start training for the sword next week”

What shall we do with this restless Falco? Do you want to sleep with me?

Yes, Falco fiercely resisted Shou, who had prepared another room for herself on the first day. There are several rooms in the hut, even though it's a small one, as there are several groups staying there. It was. Shou appreciates the importance of independence, while Falco appreciates the emotional stability of the child. Eventually, Shou lost to Falco, who laments that he took her in for no reason. Well, he's warm.

Falco, on the other hand, enjoys every day. The futon is warm and the food is fun. I'm purposely giving her a big loaf of bread to watch her spin it around, but lately she's been cutting it into thin slices herself. I can't help but be disappointed.

Although she says she won't do the sword, Shou takes it with open arms and wrinkles her nose when she entrusts it to him. Shou's eyes light up when she sees the slime and is disappointed to learn that it's a pest. Shou is glittering with the desire to stay at the inn.

I never knew living with a child could be so interesting, I've lived 50 years and this is probably the most fun I've had in 50 years. Maybe.

But on the second night, Shou said.

“The soup Leon brought us is about to run out. What are we going to do now?”
“Oh, I eat bread and dried meat. Usually”
“What, four more days?”
“hmm, well”

Was it bad? Hunters are like that. Come to think of it, Shou is kid from a good place. More food is coming next week, but what are we going to do this week, me? I can't raise kids with things like this.

With an impatient Falco at his heels, Shou rummaged through the larder and gathered a variety of things. The first supplied root vegetables. Green onions. Long-lasting fruit. Dried mushrooms. Dried fruit. Flour. Lots of dried meat.

The next morning, I woke up impatiently to find Shou not in my arms, and she was making soup in front of magic tool. Shou was there. The bread was also cut thin and warmed up.
I guess bread can be cut into thin slices and warmed up without difficulty. What a cute thing about Shou, who is mugging with her little mouth without having to turn it around.

I watched in a daze and was get scolded for getting ready quickly. Getting scold wasn't so bad. I grimaced and Shou gave me a cold look. Cold eyes are not bad. Rather, it's good.

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