Isekai Nonbiri Sozai Saishu Seikatsu - Chapter 176

“Shuu-san, are you free after this?”

After finishing the pumpkin gratin, Lumia asked me.

Usually, this would sound like an invitation that could be easily misunderstood, but knowing Lumia well, I didn’t get the wrong idea.

“Yes, I’m free. You need to gather materials, right?”

“Yes! The guild has ordered raincoats and slime shoes, so I want to collect some slime skins!”

As expected, it wasn’t an invitation for a date, but a request to gather materials.

I could sense Bandel and Mia, who had been secretly eavesdropping, stumbling in disappointment.

I’ve known Lumia for quite a while now, and she’s as unwavering as ever.

Well, Lumia and I aren’t in that kind of sweet and sour relationship; we’re just material-gathering buddies, so a date invitation was never going to happen.

“Of course, most of the materials will be collected by adventurers, but I want to try gathering some myself! Shuu-san, will you come with me?”

Slime skins, huh… Come to think of it, I’ve often seen slimes around, but I’ve never collected their materials before.

“Sure. I’m interested in gathering slime skins.”

“Thank you so much!”

Lumia and I left the inn and headed towards the Adventurer’s Guild.

Although this time the delivery is for Lumia, so there’s no need to deliver to the guild, we still need to check the situation around Grantel.

Lumia and I haven’t been in Grantel for the past two weeks, after all.

Slimes are monsters that I’ve seen many times before, so if we use a tracker, we should find them quickly. Still, heading to areas where they are more prevalent would be more efficient.

When we arrived at the guild, the hall was very crowded today.

“It’s unusually lively today, isn’t it?”

“Did something happen?”

It’s not unusual for the guild to be busy in the morning when the day’s requests are posted early, but today’s crowd was clearly different from the norm.

I wanted to ask Rabis or Shreddi, but the staff were busy attending to the adventurers.

As I wandered, I spotted Leona nearby and called out to her.

“Hello, Leona-san.”

“Oh, Shuu, long time no see. I heard you went to the wetlands, but you’re back now?”

“Yes, just a little while ago. By the way, what’s with all the excitement today?”

“Oh, that! There’s been a massive slime outbreak in the fields near Grantel.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah, and the guild announced they’ll buy slime skins at a high price, so it’s packed with rookie adventurers. I’m planning to join too since I could use some money.”

Surprised by Lumia’s eager questioning, Leona explained the situation.

A massive slime outbreak just when slime skins are needed.

This is a fortunate occurrence for the guild.

They must have declared an increase in the purchase price to gather the necessary materials for raincoats and slime shoes.

The danger level of slimes is F.

This means even novice adventurers can easily defeat and collect them.

Normally, the buyback price wouldn’t be very high, but with the increased rate, it becomes a lucrative job.

“I see, that makes sense. Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome. When things settle down, tell me about the wetlands.”

“Of course, I’d love to.”

Leona waved her hand and joined her companions, Razo and Eric, who had arrived late.

“It seems the reason for the excitement is the massive slime outbreak.”

“Would it be inappropriate to say this is good news for us?”

“No, slimes don’t cause significant harm, so I don’t think it’s inappropriate.”

If they were ravaging livestock, fields, or attacking people, we couldn’t openly rejoice. However, this time it’s low-risk slimes.

While they should be culled if they become too numerous, as they can be simply annoying and potentially disrupt the ecosystem, they’re not creatures that cause significant harm to people. Therefore, it’s fine to be happy about this.

“In that case, let’s happily go and gather materials.”

“Yes, we know where they are, so let’s head there.”

Having pinpointed the location of the slime outbreak, we headed straight to the plains without taking any official request forms.

♦ ♦ ♦

The grassland is about an hour’s walk from the town.

This gently rolling hillside area is so beautiful that “green carpet” perfectly describes it.

“Wow! There are so many slimes in the grassland!”

Lumia exclaimed in amazement as she gazed at the field.

“Usually, there are only a few, but today is on a whole different level.”

Just a quick glance reveals at least thirty nearby.

With even more visible in the distance, there must be hundreds of slimes.

There’s no need to use a magic stone detector to find them.

Many adventurers who had already taken up the quest were in the grassland, chasing slimes in a truly heartwarming scene.

“There are a lot of people around here. Shall we go a bit further in to gather?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

With our plan set, Lumia and I headed deeper into the grassland.

“This spot should be good.”

We stopped when the number of adventurers thinned out.

There were still plenty of slimes around, some standing idly and others bouncing about energetically.

“Just watching them somehow feels so heartwarming.”

“I feel like just sunbathing here, but let’s gather materials for the raincoats and slime shoes.”

Lumia was brimming with enthusiasm, perhaps because it was her first time collecting slime skins in the field.

Although slimes are a common sight, it’s my first time collecting their skins too, so I’m looking forward to it.

【Slime: Danger Level F】

The most well-known monster in this world.

It has a jelly-like body that feels jiggly to the touch.

Omnivorous, it slowly dissolves food with a weak acidic liquid inside its body.

Generally docile. Popular as a pet, with some people keeping them.

As a monster, it is of the weakest class, and there’s almost no human who would lose to it.

When I appraised the slime in front of me, this information came up.

Slimes seem to be the weakest class of monsters in this world.

However, appraising them like this brings up all sorts of interesting information.

They slowly dissolve nutrients with the acidic liquid inside their bodies.

“Is there a trick to cleanly collecting the skin?”

“You need to carefully remove the core inside.”

Following Lumia’s advice, I carefully observed the slime and saw a blue, marble-like object inside its body.

【Slime Core】

The slime’s brain, heart, and nervous system, all in one vital organ.

If destroyed, the slime dies.

When collecting other materials, it’s recommended to extract the core cleanly without damaging it.

Upon appraisal, it was indeed the core.

It seems that cleanly extracting it would suffice.

While I was examining it, Lumia put on her black slime gloves and picked up a slime.

She then thrust her hand into the slime’s body and cleanly extracted just the core.

“Like this! A little contact with bare skin is fine, but since we’ll be collecting a lot today, it’s better to wear gloves!”

The method was more bold than I had expected.

Indeed, the best way to extract the core without damaging it is probably by hand.

Following Lumia’s example, I put on the black slime gloves.

I picked up a nearby slime and forcefully thrust my arm into it.

…Amazing. It feels like thrusting my hand into a large jelly.

A bit cold and elastic, it feels surprisingly pleasant.

As I moved my hand towards the core, it suddenly shifted.

“The core moved?”

“Since it’s an important organ, the slime tries to escape.”

It’s impressive that they can move such a vital organ so easily.

I chased the darting core around and finally managed to grab it.

It resisted, but I pulled it straight out.

A round, blue core lay in my palm.

“It’s as beautiful as beach glass.”

“In town, children often sell trinkets made from slime cores.”

Since it’s such a low-risk monster, even children can defeat them, making it a good craft material.

The slime, now without its core, stood motionless.

It resembled a jellyfish washed up on the shore, kind of cute.

“Normally, the proper method would be to process it and collect only the skin, but can you store it as is?”

“Sure.”

Now that the slime had lost its life force, it could be stored as an item in a magic bag.

I stored the two slimes from which I had extracted the cores directly into the magic bag.

“That makes two collected.”

“Yes! Let’s keep gathering more like this!”

TL Note: Is it just me or is Shuu sometimes slightly concerning?

“What a heartwarming scene….now let’s massacre them all and pull out their insides!  °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°  Now it looks like a dead jellyfish washed up on a shore, how cute!”

Wut…?! ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )