“But it’s so fun to tease you. You make some really cute expressions~.” I said nonchalantly which makes her freeze up.
“Cute?” She said as her face rapidly heats up to the point that her mana goes wildly inside her body, making her letting off a bit of smoke above her head.
She just sat down and looked down embarrassed.
I simply smiled and sat next to Stephanie and started to eat.
"So, do you know what you will buy to improve your dungeon?" I asked Stephanie.
"Hmm, my diggers use vines to loosen the earth so it’s not like I need pickaxes. Still, I'm sure that store is good enough to have basic manuals for nature magic type traps for both physical and magic." She said in a thinking pose.
"Hmm, it might be a good idea to get some books as well huh? Well, I won’t be able to focus just one monster though. I have to get digging gloves for the rabbits and foxes." I said.
"Fox? Will you be turning all the monsters in your dungeon into mimics?" Eleonora asked surprised.
"No, but I will have about half for animals with all monsters as mimics." I said.
"But how will they rank up?" Stephanie asked.
"Well, Dalt...father did some personal experiments with goblin race slimes and it seems mimics can rank up their form if it's a monster race." I replied which leaves them both a bit stunned.
I wouldn't know it, cause because I never got my hands on anything beside the basic animals in the grassland and just a bit inside the forest.
Obviously I was against hunting but since I needed to train Rama and the others as well as get food for them I was forced to do it that way.
As we talked I suddenly notice how our hair was standing as if it was filled with static and frowned before turning to the half demon behind us.
"Mind stopping Zap." I said clearly annoyed.
"Don't call me Zap, it's Zach." He said while frowning.
"Zap." I said again while a small smug smile which clearly annoyed him, making some sparks fly about.
He put his tray down and looked at me furiously.
"I said don't call me Zap!" He said starting to get angry and even a bit frantic. Which was normal for a kid.
I thought for a moment considering his attitude as it was starting to show his kid side which is hard to show for any of us.
In the end I gave in with a mischievous smile and called out to him.
"Hey Zap, eat up so we can go quickly." I said with a grin.
He turned to me with teary eyes which I had only seen once when Owen poked his gamepad’s buttons before. It was actually adorable, the little teary eyed boy... wait WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST THINK!!
Before I could think more, the teary eyed half demon began hopping around as he had a tantrum. Yep, from us he was the easiest to pull out a proper show that he was a kid.
Pushing aside the disturbing thoughts, I wait for an opening and pat his head which makes him stare at me with surprise.
"Calm down already Zach, if you always react that way after being called that, it will hurt you later on." I said and continued to pat his head.
He looked down blushing before nodding and going to his seat.
“Like I thought, he really has cute girly expression when he is like tha...DAMN IT! AGAIN!” I slumped down when I finally realize how girly my mind was getting.
Up until now it hasn't been much since I was a kid. I played with a nice older sister, nice maids that were like sisters and one who was almost a mother figure to me. I spent time with the animals in the plains but those was something I did even before I was reborn in this game.
Even the baths with the maids wasn't that uncomfortable because I would mostly just close my eyes and let the blissful warm water touch my childish body.
Still as a man in my old life, I took taking a bath with a woman rather poorly to begin with but with Rio, I never really worried because it felt more like a mother and daughter kind of relationships than a noble and maid one.
Still, this is the first time I feel something like saying a boy is cute. No, it must be my imagination. Zach does have a somewhat girly look when he cries to the point of looking like a trap so it definitely must be that! It have to be!
I sigh as I eat quickly with my face blushing.
As I finished, the others that have yet to arrive just came in dragging their still sleepy self.
They sluggishly grabbed a tray and their breakfast with half opened eyes.
I noticed that a maid was following them, most likely thinking something along the lines of, in case they fall I'm here, or something.
When they finally sat down the maids dismissed themselves.
We look at the six people who are lacking energy to even lift their forks and almost falling asleep.
I too had a few days like that, but I already have a solution for it. I pull out a canteen that had a red cap on it as opposed to the one with herbal potion which is green or if its extract, white. I took each of their tea cups and poured a bit of this special extract juice into their tea and put them back.
When it was done I took a clean chopstick and mixed it. All the while the three were just watching quietly.
When I was done I sat down with my palm open and let it fall on the table making a loud bang, which woke all of them up.
"Huh, oh it's you guys...why are we waking up so early?" Asher asked.
"Because master told us to get some mediation training early before leaving" I replied.
"And why are those above rank 6 included" Kumi retorted.
"Because you will probably just sleep the morning away and have nothing to do." Stephanie said with a smile.
Everyone just stare at us before sighing and starting to eat slowly. Well only until after they all took a sip of their tea. At once all of them turned bright red. At once they all jumped up and yelled before it quickly subsided.
"What did you put in their drink?" Stephanie, Zach and Eleonora asked in Unison.
I brought out the slime extract canteen again and poured a bit on my hand and called it up since it was gel like before showing them.
Shock Slime Extract
A ball of extracted slime from an Electric Slime.
The slime will become active for 2 seconds when it makes contact with any living thing once it's been placed in a vessel of liquid of any kind.
Besides the first burst, the slime extract itself is harmless and will not cause any kind of harmful effects on the body.
It is a great option to used as a wake up method as well as a prank
As soon as they all reached the bottom part of the description the reactions varied.
Zach burst out laughing, Eleonora looked the other way while hiding her laughter in a slowly crumbling poker face and Stephanie simply sighed while she shook her head.
As for the six that got shocked, they were staring daggers at me which I simply smiled off with the most innocent look while making a small light halo above my head just to poke at them a bit more.
The light halo is very hard to maintain by the way. It was rapidly draining at my mana.
Thankfully the others looked away with the boys slightly blushing and the girls looking down so I dispelled the halo and sighed before chuckling.
They all took their cups and switched for a new one before returning and eating. They kept asking how I got an electric slime since I can't use lightning magic yet.
"Um...would it be considered cruel if I say I plugged a wire to a plug then zapped a slime with it." I said while tilting my head and my finger on my chin.
Everyone was stunned at this and the only one that replied was Zach saying "As expected, Kuroko's cruelty when it comes to finding new slimes is unmatched."
I did earn him some more teasing and this time no petting, but it didn't matter. I am not cruel, if I could do lightning magic I would have let it absorb lightning mana but since I can't tough luck.
"So do you guys plan on making traps outside of your dungeons?" I asked
"Yeah,
Asher and I already made a few pitfalls into the dungeon which is triggered by a magic circle that could sense a monster above it." Owen said.
"I've started planting saplings outside of my dungeon hidden amongst the forest trees. Humans are ignored and will even help if they’re attacked. As for traps, well, the saplings make them naturally when needed so it’s a very adaptive." Stephanie said.
"Hey hey, I started breeding the lizardmen and they were really quick to hatch so I had them become hunters and start training in the dungeon. I think a few three horned boars entered and were beaten. What about you Kuroko?" Nova said.
"Well, the goblin slimes were told to wait for the monster population to be born so during that time they spent a lot of time making traps. I plan to breed a new type of mimic today by having them eat bushes and trees." I said.
They just go "Oh~~!" Like kids hearing about having a cake as dinner.
Soon the late arrivals finish up and with a bit of help from the maids, fix up the poorly dressed clothes they had.
Afterwards we leave and as soon as we reach the lobby we spot someone we knew well. The halfling maid and four others, an elf, a half elf, a cat demi human and a dog beast human, were there in casuals clothes.
"So the head maid let you come with us?" I asked.
"Yes Miss Kuroko, with us as chaperones, we can take you kids a bit further into town to a few extra stores you can't normally reach. Also the other dungeoneering students will most likely be up and at those shops you will probably go to, so don’t expect many things ok." The mini maid.
The cat girl began to giggle at the halfling maid.
"Hey~ look~! Kawaii is so excited to get a day off~! It's so cu~~te!" She said making the other three laugh.
"W-wh-what did you c-call me yo-you meanies! Ca-call me correctly! It's Kawi!!" She shouted but near the end you could see she was blushing and a small smile was growing on her face.
She looked down and began murmuring "Ka-kawaii...cute hehe I'm...ehehe." The ten of us watching all thought the same thing. "CUTE!!"
Seriously! I thought the type that couldn't hide their happiness was just fictional!
"Kawaii...I-I mean Kawi, are you ready to go?" I asked forcing myself to focus.
It’s really hard, I can tell for sure that if she had animal ears and tail there would be lines of people wanting to hug her. I really want to pet her but that would delay us more so I force my hand down and bury my urges to the back of my mind.
We go outside and as planned by Master, we all start meditating a bit until she was satisfied and then we headed off.
When we arrive at the gate, I summon Rama and my slimes. he two slimes take stand next to me in their Demi human form while wearing the slime pants and chest armor, as I sit on Rama's back.
"You really like to ride him huh?" The cat girl asked.
"Well half the time it's because Master Belladonna tells me to so he can get stronger but he is very soft so I don't mind it." I say as I scratch just behind his right ear which makes him close his eye in pleasure.
A few of the maids looked surprised at him and the cat and dog one even looked a bit jealous to see Rama getting such a nice petting.
“Welp, shall we go?” I said
Everyone nodded and we set off. The first stop was Dan’s Dungeon shop. The streets were unexpectedly crowded even though it was still so early.
At the moment it was 7:30 am, and yet most of the older students were all running about with friends and many of them with a maid chaperone all enjoying themselves.
I guess that explained why we got some with us. I bet its 2 maids per student since the proportion seems to be that. At least for the younger aged ones because those above 12 years old only have one maid for every 4 students.
When we arrived at Dan’s Shop we saw a group entering but besides that it seems everyone is going further out into the town.
“The reason is because Dan’s shop holds tools and items perfect for a first year student but it’s rather lacking for older children. If you go down on more street you will find three other shops on the main road all much larger than Dan’s.” Kawi-san said.
I hop off Rama and enter with the others into the large shop. The store looked like a mix between a bookstore near the front where a section of books was, a weapon dealer, because of the many racks of pickaxes and other type of digging tools right next to the bookstore part near the front of the shop, and a workshop because of the large blacksmith and tailor workplaces taking up the back half of the store.
“WOAH!” All the kids said. Even I was impressed by how organized this place was.
We looked around and notice several shop workers organizing the stock, many working in the back and others helping the students who were looking around.
“Hey Hey, how does a small shop like this survive?” Nova asked.
Suddenly a heavy toned laughter came from a very large man who was over two meters tall with a very large belly, but not from fat, it instead are made off from muscles. He was REALLY strong looking. His biceps were easily as big as my head, and thanks to his size it allows for his body to gain such proportions.
“BAHAHAHAHA!! What a sharp tongue you got little missy! Let me tell you, this is just a branch shop that I made because of a contract with the academy. So to put things clearly, this is a shop made specifically for beginners. Even those working here are trainees so the quality of the gear here is at beginner level in every aspect.” The man who seems to be Dan himself said.
“Greeting Sir Daniel. It’s good to see you are still in good health. How are things?” Kawi-san said as she bowed showing her respect followed by the other four maids.
“Ho~! So the head maid let her number 2 off her leash for once huh. As for how things are, it’s ok, the year has only started and I was taken by surprise with the sudden rush of kids. Isn’t it early for the students to be coming. Don’t they normally wait until the first years have their dungeon cores ready?” He asked inquisitively .
“Well, because of these five here, things were pushed a bit forward. All five had their dungeon cores ready by the third week so we needed to move things ahead.” She replied.
The big man’s eyes fell on top of us five while we took a step back.
“Ho~! So it wasn’t my imagination when I felt that bundle of very large mana packed kids huh? From the quality of their mana, I would guess that these are the five royal prince and princesses correct?” He asked.
“Um...I’m not a royalty, but I do have the blessing of the goddess of mana.” I said timidly looking up at the monster of a man.
“Oh? Is that so, well even so, it’s quite a blessing to say the least. Any mage would kill to have it since it makes it rather easy to gather and understand many things and much faster than normal.” He said while examining me from head to toe.
“Well, nothing we can do about it but to go with the flow, this is a good lesson for me and all the workers. We need to be ready for anything. So what can we get for you kids?” He said and took a businessman attitude.
I look at the others and they looked at me before gesturing for me to go first. I frown at how easily they got afraid of the massive man. Though I couldn’t say I was any better.
“Um...then I guess I would need digging tools? Hmm, I have rabbits and fox at the moment and soon since I will begin expanding a lot I will need some for wolves as well” I said towards him as he was writing down everything.
“So it’s an animal dungeon, quite mainstream but everyone starts somewhere right?” He said and shrugged.
“Ah no, I've making a slime dungeon.” I said nonchalantly and went back to thinking.
He was mid way to turning around when he froze and looked at me.
“So why are you asking for rabbit and fox digging tools?” He said in a rather annoyed tone.
"I breed mimics from slimes.” I said in an equally annoyed tone and pointed at the two slimes behind me with a thumb pointed over my shoulder.
As soon as
he saw them his eyes bulge and he stretched his hand out and grabbed peach before pulling her close to examine her.
At once she reacted and loosened her form and slid out of his grip. This was thanks to her control of her slime so she can do this much with all the gear that sensei put on her that keeps her from returning to ball shape.
She slid out of his hand and hit the ground but the next moment several other slimes appeared and armed her.
“STOP!! RIGHT!! NOW!!” A sudden pressure hit everyone.
The normally gentle and high pitched soprano voice from Kawi had dropped a few octave and along with the pressure her voice held a strangely deadly feel to it.
“Dan I would suggest you to leave the slimes alone. Miss Kuroko is Dalton Halt’s youngest adoptive daughter after Miss Megumi Melody. Please refrain from such...aggressive attempts to fulfill your curiosity!” Her tone was calm but still held authority that would put many nobles to shame.
Dan took a step back while he paled and nodded. This made the pressure vanish as if it wasn’t there, Kawi-san’s face went from the scowl she had on before to a gentle smile.
“Good, now Little Peach please put away the weapons so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings, ok?” She said as if nothing ever happened.
“Miss...strong” Peach said and nodded making most of her armor except the chest and legs vanish.
“Please go ahead and bring out the animal digging tools. You already know this is a mimic by the simple fact that it’s a humanoid slime. There is no need for you to hold it down to identify it.”
Dan frowned and called a few workers and told them to bring the several sizes of Rabbit and fox digging tools.
What was brought were beginner class metal claws that seem more like gloves. The claws weren’t sharpened so they couldn’t be used as weapons but it was enough to dig and as glove armours.
I had Rama come in and try the large variation of the fox claws and it fits over his paw.
Though these were regarded as tools they were also regarded as gauntlets so after I bought Rama’s as well as six pairs of both rabbit, fox and wolf gloves I summoned Rama’s gauntlet slimes and had them absorb them.
Slime Tamer's Chronicles Page 22
