The next day.
Hm?
When I woke up in the morning, I noticed something was different about my
room. The only source of light in my room was the magic light beside my pillow.
It was dimmed so that everything was dark, but I could immediately tell
something was off.
There were no 'things.'
Come to think of it, I packed everything yesterday... I accepted in my head
once, before I took a second look and still found it strange. I poured energy into
the magic stone to illuminate the room, and found it to be completely empty.
While I had packed most of my items away into my Item Box yesterday, I had
left the furniture, like the tables, chairs, and shelves.
I didn't recall breaking them down either. Yet, I couldn't see them anywhere.
In fact, the bed I should have been sleeping on was gone too. What was going
on? There's no way it could have been stolen, right...? That was impossible. If a
thief snuck in I would notice, and the slimes would make a fuss too. I let the
duke's party sleep over last night, but I couldn't imagine them stealing anything.
In the first place, stone furniture made from earth magic couldn't be worth
anything, and what thief would assume there would be anything of value in a
cave like this? There were various spoils from my battles, but they were stored
away in my Item Box.
All that was left were the slimes...! The slimes! Where were the slimes?!
"Whoa!"
Unable to see the single cleaner slime I normally left in my room, I tried to
leap up from my sleeping area when suddenly, my body was enveloped in a
floating sensation, followed by an impact and dull pain.
"Wait, huh?"
When I sat my sore body up, my surroundings were dark again. I turned on
the light, this time to see my usual room. It was rather bare after all the
packing, but the table, chair and other furniture were all there. The impact to
my body also seemed to be from falling out of bed...
"Geez, it was just a dream..."
Now that I had calmed down, I could see the lone cleaner slime hanging over
the edge of the bed to peer down at me. I could confirm the other slimes were
also within the cave still.
Honestly, don't scare me like that... is what I wanted to say, but in this
situation I had no one to say it to. Speaking of which, how long was it until the
sun rose? If I recall, yesterday...
"...There it is."
The clock I received yesterday was still on the table. The clock face was a
round and thin metal plate with numbers and two hands attached, set upon a
round pedestal with a Y-shaped metal support. The pedestal, support, and clock
face were all decorated in a modest but refined way, and with nothing
mechanical in sight to suggest the structure of a clock, I had thought it was a
mirror when I first unwrapped it. The back of the clock face was so polished, it
really could have passed for a mirror.
The clock face itself had the numbers 1 to 12 positioned just like on Earth.
One rotation was 12 hours, and two was 24 hours — a full day. And one hour
was made of 60 minutes. In other words, it could be read in the same way as on
Earth, which made things easy.
However, when I watched it carefully, it seemed like the length of one minute
in this world was slightly different to one minute on Earth. Well, the length of a
day in this world had never bothered me from the beginning, although that may
be due to my relaxed schedule these past three years ruining my body clock...
Either way, when I checked the clock, it said it was currently 5:30. This clock
couldn't tell morning and afternoon apart, but it was obviously morning. I
would have overslept by a lot if it was afternoon. There was time for a second
sleep if I wanted, but I didn't feel like it. As I was thinking that, I heard muffled
footsteps from deeper within the house.
"Sebas...?"
"Good morning, Master Ryoma."
I turned my eyes towards the direction of the sound to find the duke's butler,
Sebas, walking this way.
"Is something the matter?"
"I heard a strange sound earlier, followed by light leaking into the corridor."
It seemed like he had heard my great fall out of bed.
"Did I... wake you?"
"No, we servants are normally up and about at this hour. Araune and Lilian
are awake too. Though the other still seem to be sleeping."
"I see..."
The sun was about to rise, so I guess I'd go get water from the river. There
was no point waiting around idly, but it'd also be disruptive if I went about
doing things.
When I told that to Sebas, he said he could create it with water magic, so I
told him he could use the bathroom and kitchen as he wished before I left the
house for some light training and a walk before we left.
"Phew."
After stepping outside, the tranquil morning air of the forest brushed against
my skin, filling my lungs with every breath. The chill was comforting as the sun
started to rise from the distant sky. It was bright enough outside that no lights
were needed to walk around. Stepping through the grass covered in morning
dew, I strolled down the familiar path leisurely. Who knew how many times I
had made my way back and forth to the river down this path... As I was
immersed in my thoughts, I suddenly realized something.
The room in that dream had been from when I first came to this world. There
were some parts I couldn't remember clearly, but there were no drawings on
the wall or the corridor that led further inside in my dream. When I first arrived,
I repeatedly went from digging my house, to securing food, to fetching water...
now I remembered. It was right around the time of that dream where my
continuous digging had finally created enough space for me to live in. That was
when — that's right, it was here.
Before my eyes, the river I always fetched water from flowed by as usual. Its
depth went from my ankles to my knees in the deep areas. While it wasn't very
deep, its great width made the calming sound of flowing water constant.
"Rock."
I made a water jug with earth magic.
Since becoming more familiar with water magic, the number of days I made
do with magic increased, but in the beginning I came here to fetch water every
day. I also washed my body, did the laundry, and trained by the riverside, so I
spent most of my time either at home or here. On the morning when my home
was done, I had also come here to fetch water... and picked up a slime that had
been washed down the river. It wasn't the first time I had seen a slime letting
itself be carried by the flow of the river, but on that day it had been close
enough for me to reach. That's why I scooped it up in my water jug, then
brought it home and tamed it on a whim.
The foundation of taming magic, the Taming Contract was formed by spinning
magic energy into a thread and using it to connect the tamer and the monster.
Once the contract had been formed, a certain level of mutual understanding
would be achieved, allowing for orders to be followed and a sense of location to
be gained. However, the first time I formed a contract, the indistinct emotion I
could feel from the slime could only be described as 'fear.' Watching the slime
tremble made me decide to name it 'Tabuchi.' Because my first impression of it
was very similar to the first time I met my former subordinate of that name.
The slime Tabuchi was slow at moving at first, weakened by flowing down the
river. Even if I reached my hand out, it would just shake without trying to flee.
When I tried to feed it live green caterpillars, two of every five would outrun it
and escape. When it approached the river to drink, it would get washed away
by the water... On that day, I finally understood the reason why slimes came
floating down the river.
After that, I fed it and trained it. Once it evolved, I repeatedly conducted
experiments until arriving at today. It sure brought back memories... Tabuchi
was no longer here, unfortunately, but I still had his core.
...Speaking of the good ol' days, I wonder what the human Tabuchi was doing
now? He had been a rather chubby man, an otaku who entered the company
after me as a new graduate. From the moment I met him as his more
experienced instructor, he trembled at the sight of my previous life's physique.
He was pretty bad at socializing too, though I wasn't one to talk. But he was
never late, and if I explained what he needed to do and how to do it then he
would. If he messed up, he felt remorse, though whether he could express that
well or not was a different matter.
As two people with the same otaku hobbies, we had lots to talk about, even
though we were from different generations. He had difficulties being a team
player, but he had fixed that before I died. His work was more than satisfactory,
so I hoped he was able to quit that company and find employment elsewhere
already... Looking back on it now, he had been quite a handful to deal with, but
he was one of the good subordinates that I had. I wouldn't have named a slime
after him otherwise, after all. Remembering the other good-for-nothing bosses
and subordinates wasn't exactly pleasant.
Although now the numbers of slimes had increased so much, I no longer
named them. I could still single out an individual if needed. The effects of the
contract were very convenient.
"Oops, what time is it?"
That was a long trip down memory lane. Light was reflecting off the water
surface into my eyes, and my surroundings were much brighter now too. The
training I was going to do... No, I had plans. It would be better to return. I filled
the water jug I had abandoned after creating and lifted it on my shoulder to
carry back.
When I returned, Jill and Zeph were standing before the house, looking rather
surprised at the sight of me carrying a water jug taller than myself. I greeted
them then went inside to find the time was 7. Quite some time had passed after
all... Oops.
"You're back, Ryoma. Good morning."
Reinhart came out of the inner room.
"Good morning."
"Are you all prepared?"
"Not a... problem."
"That's good to hear."
After that, I was invited to breakfast, so I fed the slimes their food while
waiting. Once it was time for breakfast, I ate together with the ducal house,
then gathered my slimes and went outside. After sealing the entrance with
earth magic... Everything was all locked up.
Now... It was time for a new journey!
I wrapped up my fond memories of the last three years and turned back. The
11 people who would accompany me on my journey were waiting.
"Ready?"
"Yes, let's go."
"Then let's get going."
"All right! Off we go! Young Miss, Ryoma. If you need anything, just speak
up!"
Hughes took the lead with everyone walking behind, as I took my first step
towards something new.