Chapter 5: Sui The Baby Slime Joins The Party

After that, I shakily returned to the inn.

I would never have thought I’d be scammed. It’s my fault, though, for avoiding towns because of Fel, and thus not really showing up much in any other Adventurer’s or Merchant’s guilds.

When it comes to adventurers, my impression of Iron Will, who accepted my escort request before, was so strong that I didn’t even imagine I would be swindled. My first impression of this world was that royalty and nobles and people in positions of power used that power to do whatever they wanted. But come to think of it, if there were good merchants and adventurers, there’d be bad ones too — obviously. Even in my previous world, there were good and bad people.

At any rate, my plan was still to leave this town and hurry on over to either Erman or Leonhardt. I mean, even though the way I got it was... something... I still managed to get the map I wanted.

Yeah, that’s good. After I eat breakfast with Fel, let’s hurry and prepare to leave.

“Right then, let’s go.”

“Are we done already?”

“Yeah, let’s hurry up.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Leaving the town of Rautel, we steadily made progress along the road.

“Fel, about where we’re going, I’m thinking either the Kingdom of Erman or Leonhardt.”

“Even if you tell me the name of the country I would not understand. Which direction is it?”

“Both Erman and Leonhardt are to the east. They’re on the eastern coast.”

“Ohhh, the eastern ocean? There are sea serpents and krakens there. Those are all delicious in their own way.”

......I-Is that an ominous name I hear? I mean, sea serpents sound like underwater dragons, and isn’t the kraken a ginormous squid? I think both of them are boss level monsters. Nowaynowaynoway, let’s pretend like I didn’t hear that, yeah.

Actually, Fel is okay with fish?

“Of course I prefer meat, but every once in a while I eat fish, too.” I see. Now that I think about it, he eats snack bread and says it’s good, so I guess he can just eat anything.

“Hm, talking about fish has made me hungry. Cutting through the forest will lead us to the same road leading east, and there is a lake in the middle, too. Oi, we are moving.” Huh? Is that a done deal?

“H-Hey, will we be okay cutting through the forest like that? Like, aren’t there dangerous monsters and stuff?”

“Hmph, who do you think I am? There is no need to worry about that.” Ahh, is that so? But still, it’s fine for Fel because he’s strong, but there’s no way for me to do that.

“I will keep a barrier around you permanently because you are weak, do not worry.” ‘Weak...’ I mean, it’s true, it’s all fact, but it still hurts to hear out loud.

“Hurry up and get on my back.” Yeah, yeah.

When I climbed onto Fel’s back, he leapt off into the forest. “Let’s go.”

“F-Fast, fast! TOO FAST!! GO SLOOWEERRRRR” I screamed while clinging on to Fel’s back for dear life as he fairly flew through the forest.

“Hang on tightly so you are not shaken off. I will be going at this speed until we reach the lake.” A victory for his appetite. Goddammit, why did his gluttony have to assert itself now?!

“GYAAAAHHHH!!!”

“Aーーー......aー......aaaa...” My screams echoed through the forest.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Thanks to Fel putting me through hell, we reached the lake.

Hahh, hahhh, hahhh, I thought I’d die... Running through the forest at that kind of speed, even just remembering it...*shivers* It took everything I had just to cling onto Fel for dear life. Flopping onto the ground, I felt painfully well just how reassuring hard earth was until Fel’s face popped up above me.

“Oi. We are eating fish.” ......Come on, Fel, at least let me rest a little.

Man, Fel’s appetite never stops, does it? Still, if you want to eat fish, how do you plan on catching them? We don’t have a fishing rod. Don’t tell me you plan on going into the lake yourself?

“This is best for catching fish.” Saying that, Fel...

*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*

Lightning danced across the lake’s surface... and fish popped up to the surface one after another. Soon, the lake’s surface was covered in fish.

Fel, dude, that’s too much. That was probably just Lightning magic, but what do you plan to do with all those fish?

“I used magic to gather them at the shore, so take what you like.”

“Take what I like? Are all of them dead?”

“They are all stunned into a death-like state from my Lightning magic. They will revive eventually.” Ahh, I see. That must be tough for the fish. Well, I’ll go pick some out I guess.

Oh, there are a lot of purple fish here. From Appraisal, I learned that they’re called violet trout. They’re about 30cm long, so they might be good grilled with salt.

I shoved the violet trout into my Item Box. Of course, I don’t plan to put all the fish in there, but taking a little extra to save for later should be fine. Even I wanted to eat fish since it’s been all meat lately, so leaving some extra fish in my Item Box so I can eat some whenever I want wasn’t a bad idea.

Hey, what’s this pretty big one? There was a silver fish around 80cm long. From Appraisal, it was called a king trout. If it was this big, even I might be able to fillet it. Let’s take a lot of this as well.

Ooh, and that is? In the middle of the violet and king trout, there was a giant fish around 3 meters in length.

“Wow, is that not a lake shark? How rare.” Asking about it, it seemed to be a rare shark that even Fel had rarely seen in his long life.

Although it doesn’t seem to be fit to eat... Well, even if we couldn’t eat it, it was still a large monster. Not to mention, if it was as rare as Fel said, I should be able to sell it. For now, I stowed it in my Item Box too.

“Take some of this, too. It tingles the tip of your tongue and is delicious.” Fel said, and used Wind magic to gather some fish around me.

Woah, what the heck is this? It was a shocking pink fish with blue stripes around 50cm long. It was the kind of color that screams, “I have poison in me!” though... Appraising it, I found out that its name is poison lakefish, and it’s inedible. Actually, this thing clearly had poison in it. Is Fel okay?

“Fel, you’ve been eating these, right?”

“Yes, several times. It was delicious and left a tingling sensation at the tip of mine tongue.”

“I think that tingling was poison. It looks like this fish is called the poison lakefish. Did you not appraise it before eating, Fel?”

“I would not do something as annoying as that. Since I have a god’s blessing, something like poison would never work, anyway.”

Ahh right, god’s blessing. Man, being able to invalidate status ailments must be great. I’m so jealous.

“It might not work on you since you have a god’s blessing, but it’s still poisonous to me. I can’t take these. Not to mention, you don’t have to eat something poisonous like this. I’ve been making your meals properly, haven’t I?”

“Mm, that is true, but this is still pretty...”

“I can’t put something poisonous with other ingredients. I’ll make something with the violet and king trout I got, so hold it in.”

“Mmrmrmm... fine.”

Now then, it’s the first fish I’ve had in a long while. How should I cook it? I can grill the violet trout whole with salt, and then fillet the king trout... Hmm, roasting the king trout in foil as well as cooking it a la meunière would be good. If I do that though, I’m out of butter, and I’d need to buy flour as well. I’d also like mushrooms for the foil roast, so let’s go shopping.

Opening up the Online Supermarket, I bought butter, flour, and mushrooms, as well as the usual spices and seasonings I used frequently. I also didn’t forget the foil I needed to foil-roast the fish.

Next is... Oh, this is good every once in a while.

Once I’d got everything I needed, it was almost time to start cooking. I’m going to grill the violet trout whole with salt, so it would be best to have an open fire. First up is gathering firewood, then.

I quickly gathered enough firewood from the surrounding forest, and set fire to it. Of course, I used magic. I’d done some training in it, so I’d become quite good at controlling Fire magic.

With this, I’m prepared to grill.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off by removing the violet trout’s innards. There are people that like the bitterness of the innards, but I’m not one of them, so I take them out.

Use some sticks found while gathering firewood to skewer the violet trout and sprinkle them with salt, then stab the sticks into the ground by the fire and grill them.

While that’s happening, move on to the king trout. Start off by filleting them. Whoops, too much of the meat got stuck to the spine while trying to remove it. Well, it’ll be fine even if the meat is a little lopsided as long as the spine is removed.

Next up is the foil-roast. Coat some aluminum foil with butter and sprinkle the coating with onions. On top of that, place an appropriately sized cut of king trout onto the foil and season it with salt and pepper. Layer some shimeji mushrooms and Japanese hackberry onto the fish and lightly douse it with Japanese sake before adding a pat of butter, and then close the foil. Leave it at the edge of the fire to steam and cook.

Now, the meunière. Season a cut of the king trout with salt and pepper and let it sit for a little before wiping away excess moisture. Then, coat it with a thin layer of flour and cook the surface in a frying pan.

Oh, the violet trout’s done grilling, and the foil-roast has swelled to bursting so it looks like it’s steamed nicely. Take the well-done violet trout off the skewers and line them up on a plate.

Open up the foil of the foil-roast, add some ponzu, and it’s done. Ponzu was used today on a whim.

By the way it’s also good to add soy sauce with the butter to make soy-butter flavored foil-roast, and it’s even delicious with just salt and pepper.

Plate the cooked meunière and add pre-made tartar sauce to finish it. The usual soy-butter meunière is also good, but butter is being used for the foil-roast as is, so tartar sauce is a good substitute this time.

~◇~◇~◇~

“Fel, food’s readyー” As soon as I said that, Fel came flying. He bit straight into the whole grilled violet trout.

“Humm, hrmm, fish after a long while is delicious.” That’s nice to hear. Now then, I should eat too.

Accompanying that, I had... canned beer that I saw on the Online Supermarket and suddenly wanted to drink, because it’s been a while. I’m not that fond of alcohol, but I do feel like drinking every now and again.

The skin on the whole-grilled violet trout was crispy and delicious. The mushroom’s umami had soaked into the foil-roasted king trout, so it paired well with the refreshing taste of the ponzu. As for the meunière, the light white meat of the king trout went great with tartar sauce.

I’ve done pretty well here, in my opinion. It had great synergy with the beer, too. *Gulp* ...Man the beer is great. It’d been a long time, so the fish was satisfying, too.

“There is no more. I want seconds. This one wrapped in silver, and this one with the white on it. This white stuff has a strange taste but it is good.” Ahhh, sure sure. Foil roast and meunière, right? So Fel took a liking to the tartar sauce, huh? It is tasty.

I made more of the foil-roast and meunière while sipping on my beer. I made some soy-butter and simple salt and pepper foil-roasts, but kept the meunière with tartar sauce because Fel seemed to like it. I made more and more food and brought it out for Fel.

“*sigh* That was delicious. It has been a while since I have eaten fish.” Of course Fel likes meat the most, but it looks like he’s cool with fish too, so I’ll cook some every now and again. Luckily we got a lot of fish today, and even an extra large one. Let’s have the Adventurer’s guild butcher it the next time I go to one.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Stone Bullet!” One small stone projectile flew with a whoosh, before losing speed 20 meters away and dropping to the ground.

*Sigh*......

I was practicing Earth magic now, but it wasn’t going so well. I’d become able to throw some pretty respectable Fireballs, so I was testing if I could use other magic. Thinking it an obvious Water spell, I tried chanting, “Water Ball,” but nothing happened. Next, I tried Wind with “Wind Cutter,” but that also turned up nothing. Lastly, I tried Earth with “Stone Bullet,” and a stone so small it might have been a grain of sand popped out of the palm of my hand.

While I was happy to disocver I had an affinity for Earth magic, Fel, who was watching me, laughed out of his nose again. Frustrated, I started practicing Earth magic hard, but just like before, it wasn’t going well, and I had no idea why.

I think I’m properly circulating the magic power in my body, though. I tried testing this out with a Fireball and it worked out. Why doesn’t stone bullet work, then? It’s a little pathetic but it does activate, so I guess there’s nothing else but to practice a lot.

“I am amazed at how bad you are at learning.” Grrrr... not everybody’s an amazing cheater like you, you know.

“How about another battle? It worked the last time when you were trying to learn Fire magic, did it not?” Just that one sentence from Fel brought memories of that swarm of goblins to my head.

Nightmare, it’s a nightmare... *shiver*

“Don’t joke with me. I never want to go through that again.” I couldn’t deny that I learned how to make a proper Fireball, but the fear that came with being left alone in the middle of that swarm of goblins was not trivial.

“But at this rate you will never learn Earth magic.”

*Sigh*... This is why geniuses suck. If everyone learned everything right away there would be no strife in the world. Normal people like me have to practice.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

With dinner finished, I was thinking it was about time to sleep, so I started to ready the sleeping spaces for Fel and I. That’s when I noticed, at my feet... when did that get there?

“Woah!” It was jiggly, transparent, a bit larger than a soccer ball... and it was slowly moving.

“...Is this a slime?”

“It is.”

“Eh? Fel, didn’t you put up a barrier?”

“Of course I did. It might have already been inside the barrier when I erected it.”

“What’s the point of a barrier if there’s already something inside?”

“Hmph, is there really a need to be so scared of such a puny thing that does not even qualify to be called a small fry? You really are a coward.”

Yeah, yeah, I’m just a huge wimp. At any rate, are slimes really so weak as to have Fel say that? “Won’t slimes attack us?”

“Evolved forms do, but a slime of that level is just feed. Not to mention from its size, that slime has probably just been born.” I see. In my world, slimes were treated as easy beginner-class monsters, so I guess in this world slimes are the lowest class of monster, too.

So this thing won’t attack me? Interested, I tried poking the slime at my feet with my finger.

*Jiggle* *Jiggle*

It’s cool-to-the-touch and jiggling form reminded me of gelatin. It was fun, so I kept poking at it. In reaction, the slime formed a tentacle and poked my finger in what felt like a fearful manner. Huh, it might be kinda cute. At any rate, what a friendly slime.

“Hey, Fel, are slimes usually this friendly towards humans?”

“That is probably just because it is a freshly born slime. Normally, if it were to see anything other than another slime, it would run or hide.”

I see. A newborn slime, huh? How’s its status? I appraised the friendly slime at my feet.

【Name】 ------

【Age】 3 days

【Race】 Baby Slime

【Level】 1

【HP】 2

【MP】 1

【Attack】 1

【Defense】 2

【Agility】 2

【Skills】 -----

......So weak!

Three days old... he really was just born. His race is even Baby Slime. From now on, he was going to steadily grow from a baby slime to a regular slime, is how it feels, definitely. But right now, as a baby slime, he was so weak there was no way he’d survive meeting another monster. Even though he was pretty cute and friendly... I want to at least feed him something. Slimes had the impression of being able to eat anything, but I wonder if that was really true?

“Hey, do slimes eat anything?”

“They even eat pebbles on the ground.” So they even eat pebbles. They really are true omnivores. If that’s the case, would that be okay?

Thinking that, I removed something that was piling up in my Item Box: the trash that was left over from everything I bought so far from the Online Supermarket. The cardboard boxes were for putting under our futons, so those were being used, but everything else... Like vinyl bags that had vegetables in them, or boxes of instant soup, empty spice bottles, empty cans and PET bottles: a lot of stuff had been piling up.

I tried putting an empty can in front of the slime and asking, “Is it okay?” After poking at it with a tentacle, it enveloped the can whole. The slime was transparent, so I saw the can dissolve in a matter of moments.

“Woah, that’s impressive!” The slime wrapped a tentacle around my leg like it wanted more.

“More, huh? Wait a second.” I put more and more of the trash that had been piling up in front of the slime... And the slime enveloped more and more of the trash, and dissolved it.

“Woah, I’m all empty. All the trash that was piling up is completely gone.” The slime ate all of the trash from my world that I’d been accumulating. Honestly speaking, I was having trouble figuring out what to do about the trash. I couldn’t just throw it away without a care, so until now I’d just been leaving it in my Item Box. From that perspective, this slime did a good job.

“You’re amazing, aren’t you?” When I said that, the slime started bouncing up and down like a bouncy ball.

“Hm? Do you understand what I’m saying?” The slime that was bouncing up and down jumped up onto my chest.

“Woah.” Supporting the slime with my arms as I held it, the slime jiggled like it was satisfied.

“Wow, you really are friendly for a slime,” I said while petting it.

“Hey, that thing has become your familiar, you know?”

“......Huh?”

“I am saying that that slime has become your familiar.”

“What? I haven’t done anything to form a contract with it, though...?”

“As long as that slime wants to contract with you, and you accept it, the contract will be completed.”

“Eh? But I haven’t accepted anything of the sort.”

“Whatever you say, the contract is already finalized. You can check your status.”

I checked my status at Fel’s suggestion...

【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)

【Age】 27

【Job】 Victim from Another World

【Level】 3

【HP】 110

【MP】 110

【Attack】 83

【Defense】 82

【Agility】 78

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Baby Slime

【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket

What-? When did Baby Slime get added to my familiars list?!

...I decided to name it Sui. I won’t hear any comments about how I’ve got no naming sense.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

A few days after Sui became my familiar...

Now, Sui’s status was like this:

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 6 days

【Race】 Baby Slime

【Level】 8

【HP】 24

【MP】 21

【Attack】 18

【Defense】 20

【Agility】 21

【Skills】 -----

Somehow, its level had risen drastically. It was probably because it had eaten so much trash from my world...

Nothing happened when merely using something bought from my Online Supermarket (for example, sleeping in a futon didn’t raise HP or MP or anything like that), so it must be happening when one takes something from another world into their body. By the way, that effect where the person’s HP or MP or whatever gets buffed for a limited amount of time doesn’t happen to Sui. Thinking about it, it might be because Sui’s weak so it just actually leveled Sui up. And, it gives temporary buffs to those who are a certain level or above. If that isn’t the case, then it’s a question of if the food is causing Sui’s level ups.

However, testing that was fairly hard. After all, only a slime would eat trash. I’d like to test it out if I found another slime, but I hadn’t seen any at all. When I tried asking Fel, he said that, since slimes are so weak unless they’re evolved forms, they fundamentally always hid or ran, so it was rare to see them. Well, it wasn’t a bad thing for Sui to level up, so it was all good.

I was really thankful for Sui’s presence, too. It not only ate our trash, it even cleaned the utensils and cookware and stuff. At first it ate the plate too, but when I said to not eat the plate and just eat the rest of the stuff I wanted to clean, it did as I said and cleaned the plate. Thanks to Sui, even the tough stains that were left on the frying pan had been scoured completely off. I’d been using soap bought from my Online Supermarket to clean my cookware and utensils up until now, but that took quite a bit of water to wash away all the bubbles and foam. It was fine if there was a river or other source of water nearby, but if not, things got pretty tough. Thanks to Sui, that gets done with only a minimum of water. It even happily eats otherworld trash — Sui’s a really good kid.

Sui’s favorite spot was inside the cloth shoulder bag that I got from the clothing store where I sold my suit in the capital of Reijseger, which I’d completely forgotten about by now. Is it because it likes the spot? But it’s well behaved when he’s in it.

As for me, I was on Fel’s back. Right now, we were in the middle of running through the forest. That said, I was fine because Fel had dropped the speed compared to before.

“Fel, the sun’s gone down, so let’s make camp around here for today.” I called out to Fel, and he gradually dropped his speed before coming to a gentle stop.

“I want meat.”

Yeah, yeah.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I gave Fel a lot of meat, and had some myself with vegetables, while Sui ate the otherworld trash that was leftover.

After dinner, I felt a sudden craving for something sweet. It really does happen... sometimes, it’s just gotta be something sweet. Looking over my Online Supermarket, I found something that looked great. “That dorayaki looks delicious...”

When Fel heard me whisper that, he slowly got up and came over. “What looks delicious? I will not forgive you if you keep it to yourself.” I get it, I get it. Wait, is Fel okay with sw- ...Right, that’s a stupid question. There’s no way he’s bad with sweets after eating all those snack breads I got him.

Sui was also jiggling like it wanted to try. One each should be fine for Sui and I, and five should be enough for Fel to get a taste... Thinking that I’d want tea if we were gonna eat seven dorayaki and some other Japanese sweets, I bought some green tea bags as well.

I removed the wrapper from the dorayaki and put it in front of Fel on a plate. I also took the dorayaki out of its package for Sui, but I placed them both in front of it. As for me, I started boiling some water for the tea first.

“Man, dorayaki is good. *slurp* Tea, too. Japanese sweets really are best with green tea.”

“Ohh, this outer skin pairs well with the black insides. This is delicious.” Just like I thought he would, Fel put down his share with a single gulp. Sui was also jiggling constantly like it was excited; I guess Sui liked it too. It even properly ate all the packaging.

Hrmm, I feel a little guilty for eating sweets before bed, but there really is nothing more delicious.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“*Yawn*” Crawling out of my futon, I found that Sui had woken up with me. Sui slept with me in the same futon. Sui must have liked it when it got into the futon with me on the first day; now when I go to sleep, it always crawls right in after me.

Fel, who almost always woke up around the same time as I did, was already awake. Hm? He somehow seems different than usual. “Hey, does your stomach ache or something?”

“It does not. In the first place I cannot get sick. That does not matter right now, anyway. I have to tell you something.” Fel was acting really formal, or rather was speaking rather meekly, so I fixed my posture.

“Last night, the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir, passed an oracle down to me.”

What? Does that sort of thing also happen when you have a god’s blessing? I asked Fel, and apparently it did happen every once in a while. Fel said that in his case, Ninrir appeared in his dreams.

“Ninrir’s oracle was about you.” Huwha? Me?

“Thanks to Ninrir’s magnanimous consideration, she has decided she would be okay with giving you her blessing. However, once a week, you must offer unto her sweets from your world by putting it on an altar and praying.”

......Why sweets from my world? No way, did she start wanting to try some after seeing us travel and eat the snack breads and dorayaki I bought? No, no. There’s no way that could be true.

“This instance is due to Ninrir’s mercy after hearing your wish for a blessing, but of course she cannot give you the same level of blessing as I have. However, if it’s a God’s Blessing (small), she is able to grant it to you as long as you offer her sweets from your world once a week.”

......Isn’t this just because she wants to eat sweets? Goddess, what are you doing?

“It seems that with a God’s Blessing (small), you do get the benefit of invalidating status ailments so long as it is not an extremely strong curse or an instant death effect, not to mention that it will become easier to activate magic.”

Huh, really? Even if it doesn’t work against instant death or strong curses, invalidating status ailments and improving the activation of magic is nothing but good. I shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth, but is it really okay for me to receive a blessing?

“This is Ninrir’s mercy. Take that to heart and accept it.”

Yes sirー! If I can get a God’s Blessing (small), I’ll offer sweets or pray or whatever. To be able to invalidate status ailments and improve my magic, I’m nothing but grateful.

“Of course, if it means receiving a blessing, I’ll offer gifts and pray. But, if I have to offer the sweets on an altar and I don’t have an altar, what do I do?” I mean, we’re in the middle of a journey, you know? I have to offer prayers once a week, but it’s not like there’s a neighborhood temple or anything like that.

“Anything will work as an altar. Speaking in extremes, you can even use that rock over there as an altar. The most important thing is to put your feelings into your prayer. Close your eyes and put your thankful feelings to the Goddess Ninrir into your prayer. By doing so, your prayers will reach the Goddess Ninrir.”

Hohohhh, I see. Well then, let’s get a head start and offer a prayer to Ninrir now. Uhhh, what to use as an altar... Ahh, a cardboard box should do fine. That way, there’ll always be one in my Item Box anyway. Putting the offering inside a box that I hadn’t flattened yet, I used it as an altar.

“There is something I forgot to tell you. Ninrir requests red bean buns, jam buns, and cream buns as her first offering.” To use your oracle to order food, goddess... you sure know your stuff.

The goddess must have been watching us at least starting from when we ate the sweet bread. ‘Women go crazy for sweets,’ after all. Even the women at work outright stated that ‘sweet things go in a different stomach’... Most likely, she was wondering what she should do while watching us eat the bread, but the dorayaki yesterday broke her patience.

I used my skill to buy the breads that the Goddess requested, as well as coffee milk to go along with it. I placed them all onto the cardboard box I was using as an altar.

Rather than an offering, it’s more like a tribute. Putting my hands together, I closed my eyes and prayed.

“Oh Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir: I am offering what you have requested. As well as coffee milk, which goes well with it. Please grant unto me your blessing. I am humbly in your care.”

I opened my eyes and found the offerings I had placed atop the cardboard altar gone. Woah, they really disappeared. I wasn’t sure how gods in this world worked, but it looks like she received it. Do I have a God’s Blessing now?

I checked my status, and...

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir (small)

I now had a Blessings entry at the end that told me that I had the Blessing of the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir (small).

I am forever thankful for thy blessing, Oh Goddess. Thank you, Oh Great Ninrir. Next time, I’ll offer dorayaki as tribute.

Whoo, got me a God’s Blessing (small)!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I’d been trying to find a slime in order to get to the bottom of Sui’s level ups, but I had a thought. If the question is whether or not the food levels it up, why not just give it regular food and see what happens? Man, I’d been so focused on having it clean up our trash I had completely overlooked this simple experiment. I’m such an idiot...

Thinking about it, Sui had no problems eating the dorayaki. It was par for the course, seeing as how Sui was a true omnivore that ate anything, though. It would have been great if I’d realized it sooner, but it was such a normal way to do things that I’d gone right past it. That being the case, I’d decided to make a portion for Sui from today’s meal as well, so that I could test things. I’d save the trash I would have fed it, and will just give it to Sui tomorrow.

First, I appraised Sui before I gave it food.

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 8 days

【Race】 Baby Slime

【Level】 10

【HP】 28

【MP】 27

【Attack】 25

【Defense】 28

【Agility】 27

【Skills】 -----

Sui was already level 10?! Its stats were all still really weak, but it was leveling up way too fast.

I guess the rest will have to wait until after it eats.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

For today, I had already prepared something that went well with rice, so I was going to cook that: a miso roast pork bowl. I started making it yesterday with orc meat.

~◇~◇~◇~

Cut the orc meat thickly, and pierce it several times with a fork to allow the flavor to seep in.

Miso, sake, mirin, and sugar is what the miso marinade was made from. Put the orc meat in a z○○loc bag with the marinade, and leave it to marinate. By the way, adding grated garlic or grated ginger to this mixture to your taste is also nice.

I had it in my Item Box so time wouldn’t pass, but before I put it in I let it sit for around 2 hours to let the flavors sink in. Before I cook the meat I should make the rice, so I do that with the usual clay pot.

And this is important — the cabbage to be laid under the meat. Having this will add a refreshing element to the richness and heaviness of the miso flavor. The cabbage must be chopped finely, though having the occasional thick one will add to its charm.

Cook the main part of this dish, the orc, in the frying pan. Miso burns easily, so be careful.

Once the rice is finished, put it in a bowl, and put the finely chopped cabbage on top of it. Then, once the meat is cut into easy-to-eat pieces, place the miso roasted orc on top, and it’s finished.

...For Fel, prepare a deep dish rather than a bowl.

~◇~◇~◇~

“Fel, Sui, food.”

“Ohhh, what a smell to whet the appetite.” ‘Whet his appetite?’ Isn’t Fel’s appetite always at full blast? Just like always, Fel bit into it with huge chomps.

“Sui, you can eat this for today as well. But you can’t eat the bowl, got it?” After I said that, Sui jiggled a bit and then enveloped the bowl.

I started eating as well. Orc meat is delicious as usual. Why is it so good? This other world really is a wonder. The miso seeped in well. This dish is well done. Eating some meat and cabbage with rice all at once is the best!

“More. Make it with extra meat.” Yeah yeah, of course you’d want meat. I made another miso roast pork bowl (extra meat) for Fel and gave it to him. Sui also looked like it wanted more, so I obliged it.

It seemed the miso roast was popular with both of them. Putting in grated garlic and ginger, using honey instead of sugar, or putting in shio koji all seem like fun ways to enhance the taste, so let’s make this again later.

I sliced the orc meat thickly this time, but cutting it thin also seemed like it would be good.

Right, let’s prepare some more miso marinade...

Now then, let’s see what’s up with Sui’s stats since it’s eaten? I appraised Sui as it swayed back and forth, evidently satisfied.

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 8 days

【Race】 Baby Slime

【Level】 10

【HP】 28 (+1)

【MP】 27 (+1)

【Attack】 25

【Defense】 28 (+1)

【Agility】 27

【Skills】 -----

Oh! Sui’s been buffed.

In other words, food buffed stats for a period of time, while what normally wasn’t food raised levels...? But who would benefit from this? In the first place, aren’t slimes about the only things that could eat stuff that isn’t considered food? In other words, it’s for slimes? For just slimes to be able to level up as much as they like — what the heck. I don’t really understand this system. In the first place all this stuff was from a different world, so rather than a ‘system,’ didn’t it just become this way after coming over to this world?

Well, at any rate, it all just meant that Sui was the only one that could easily level up. It was still weak as hell right now, but I did want to level it up a lot by feeding it otherworld trash. Then it could contribute to assuring my safety along with Fel.

Safety first, this is important.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Stone Bullet!” A small pebble flew off with a whoosh and hit the tree that was the target, hard. Hurrying to check the damage, I found that the trunk had been gouged by the rock, if only slightly.

“Awesome! I’ve gotten better.” As always, I’d only managed to make one stone bullet, but the speed and power had increased. That was probably thanks to my Blessing from the Goddess Ninrir (small). It was (small), but it still did good work. Goddesses really can do anything...

Right now, we were taking a small break to digest our last meal. I was using that time to practice Earth magic.

Right after eating, Fel said, “There is something I want to go check on,” and went running off into the forest. He said he’d come right back and not to worry before putting a barrier up for Sui and I, so it was fine, though.

Sui was jiggling at my feet. By the way, it was leveling up steadily (Sui’s leveling up just from eating the trash from my world, after all) and was now level 13. I was really looking forward to seeing at what level it would finally evolve.

Now then, back to practicing Earth magic. A normal person like me really does need to put in the work.

“Stone Bullet!” I continued practicing Earth magic for a while...

Whew, I’m tired. I used a little too much MP. I needed to practice, but it was troubling that using too much MP left me so exhausted. If only I had more MP... Well, it was no use lamenting what I didn’t have.

I should eat something sweet to help with the exhaustion. So, I ordered a chocolate bar and some canned coffee from the Online Supermarket. The coffee was black: the combo between the chocolate and black coffee was greatly effective because of the contrast between sweet and bitter.

While I was eating the chocolate, Sui wrapped itself around my leg. “What, do you want some too, Sui?” Sui jiggled in response.

I broke the bar in half and put it on Sui’s tentacle, and watched it go to town: the bar was instantly dissolved inside Sui’s body. Sui seemed to like the chocolate, and it jiggled as if asking for more while rubbing against my leg.

“You’re really good at begging for stuff, aren’t you? Wait a bit.” I got some more chocolate and gave the bar to Sui. It jiggled happily while eating. I was way too sweet on this slime. I couldn’t help it though, it was so cute, how friendly it was.

Still though, Fel’s late... He said he’d be back right away, but quite a while had passed since then.

While I was resting leisurely with Sui to recover my MP, Fel finally came back. “You’re late, Fel. Did something happen?”

“It is fine. There was nothing serious. Hm? *Sniff sniff*...” Fel sniffed the air around Sui and I.

“W-What?”

“You two, did you eat something delicious while I was away?” Grk! This is about the chocolate, isn’t it? Is the smell of chocolate that distinctive?

“N-No, not really.” I replied, and Fel stared at me hard.

“You cannot fool my nose, you know.” Gghh... Dammit, he knows. Fenrirs really did have a strong sense of smell — not sure whether he’s a dog or a wolf, but he’s definitely in that family.

“It was a candy called chocolate. I was tired from practicing magic, and sweets are good for when you’re tired.”

“I am also a little tired from running. Give me some of that so-called chocolate.” ‘Tired’ my ass. There’s no way someone with nearly maxed out stats like you would get tired just from running a little.

“It is unfair that only you and Sui get to eat it but I do not.” Urk, if he says it like that... Ahhh fine, I get it, I get it.

Losing out to Fel’s stare, I bought another chocolate bar for him. Sui was also “looking” at me like it wanted another (Sui doesn’t actually have eyes, but it felt like that), so I bought another one for Sui, too.

“Here, this is chocolate.” Peeling the wrappers off the chocolate, I handed it all over to Fel before he wolfed it down.

“Hm, this is my first time experiencing this taste. I do not hate it.” Hahhh is that so? Wait, this guy just ate ten bars of it! Won’t he get cavities if he eats that much? Ah, right, he invalidates status ailments, so he won’t. I was jealous for a second, but I also have a (small) blessing, so I won’t get cavities either, right? Well, even if I wanted to eat sweets, I wouldn’t eat nearly as much as Fel. By the way, Sui also happily ate the chocolate.

＜I speak unto thee, for I am the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir. Offer unto me a bar of chocolate right now. Ah... and do not forget to offer some dorayaki as well.＞ A woman’s voice reverberated in my head.

It resembled having telepathic communications with Fel, but I could hear this voice more clearly. The voice said that she was Ninrir, but... this is just begging for sweets, right? Is this really an oracle?

＜It is. This is an oracle. Hurry up.＞

What the heck is up with this demand? Goddess, to use an oracle to beg for sweets... is that okay as a divine being? I shouldn’t be saying this, but what a bad egg of a goddess. There’s no dignity or anything in this.

＜Shut up. Even gods need something to enjoy.＞

Woah, she laid her true intentions bare, there. Really, what a hopeless goddess. Though I already thought she might be a disappointing goddess from the moment Fel told me he received an oracle to offer her sweets.

Actually, couldn’t she just use her privilege as a goddess to get stuff from my world herself? That way, she wouldn’t have to tell me to offer her sweets. Well, I’ve got the blessing, so I’ll offer her sweets anyway. I bought some chocolate and dorayaki to offer to Ninrir.

“Hm? What? Are you giving me more?”

“No, no. This isn’t for you, Fel. I just received an oracle from the goddess Ninrir. She wants me to offer her chocolate and pray.”

“Mm, is that so? If it is an oracle from Ninrir make sure you pray properly.”

I placed the chocolate and dorayaki onto the cardboard box altar and prayed. When I opened my eyes, the offerings were gone.

＜Good Job!＞ What do you mean, ‘good job?’ Where did you even learn an English phrase like that? You really are a disappointment of a goddess.

“Right, you have finished praying, no? Then we are moving. Hurry and get on.”

“I get it, but are you in a hurry or something?”

“N-No, not really. More importantly, how is your Earth magic?” Huh? Did he just change the subject?

“I still only get one stone out of it, but thanks to the Goddess Ninrir’s blessing, the power and speed has improved.”

“Stone Bullet should be a magic that shoots several pebbles. That you still only manage one is...” Gnnrrn, I can’t help it, can I? It just doesn’t happen that way.

“Like this, there really is no choice but to take you there,” Fel whispered softly to himself.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Nothing. Rather, get on already.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sui’s already in the bag, right? Okay, I’m good.”

“Then we are off.”