Ryoma's Side
The preparations were done. I had gotten everything ready in front of the
cesspit before everyone else had arrived. Or rather, my clothes stood out so
much I would have attracted even more attention if I had several adventurers
trailing after me. They each had their own preparations to make, and I had to
check the bacteria hadn't gotten out beforehand anyway.
All that was left now was to wait for the first squad on the job. Oh, there they
are now.
The footsteps stopped, and the door leading outside opened. Three people
from the meeting that was held looked back at me, including the client of my
previous job, Miya, and the one I had met at the guild before, Jeff.
"Thank you for your work."
"Yeah, though we haven't done anything yet."
"It's been two days since then, Ryoma. You seem to know me and Jeff
already, but I'll just introduce myself again, nya? I'm the cat beastkin, Miya Catt.
Please call me Miya, nya."
Miya waved her brown furred ears and tail at me, as though emphasizing how
she was a cat beastkin.
"Ah, like I said before, I'm Jeff Grange. Just so you know, I had a rough
upbringing. I don't like to speak stiffly, and you don't need to be polite, either.
Just talk to me casually."
"Thank you, but I'm not particularly forcing myself to speak this way."
"No worries, then. Next is..."
"That would be me."
Next was a man I hadn't met before, with brown, near-black hair that had
been roughly chopped short. It didn't really bother me during the earlier
meeting, but his words were straight out of an ancient drama. And the weapon
he wore was a katana... judging by its length, a tachi. It was my first time seeing
one since coming here. They had never shown up among the bandit loot either,
so just who was this person...?
"I am called Asagi. A wanderer from the village of dragonewts, journeying to
better myself. I have settled in this town as an adventurer for the present. 'Tis
been said that even a chance meeting can lead to a deep bond, such as I hope is
our fate."
"I'm Ryoma Takebayashi, it's nice to meet you too. So you're a dragonewt."
Dragonewts were also called the dragonfolk. Like their name implied, they
were people that had the traits of dragons. I couldn't see any of said traits at all,
so I had thought he was a regular human. It seemed like Asagi noticed that.
"Were you unaware of my dragonewt status?"
"Sorry, it's my first time meeting one..."
"No need for concern. Dragonewts have not predetermined characteristics
like other species, such as cat beastkin. Most possess scales over part of their
body, some grow small horns, though this is rare. Everything else be identical to
humans. If the scales are in an inconspicuous location, it would be difficult to
spot the difference. Such as myself."
As Asagi spoke, he opened his collar to show scales that were of the same
color as his hair. But I was more curious about his way of speaking and the
weapon he had.
"Sorry, could I ask you one thing?"
Figuring it would be rude to suddenly ask about his speech, I asked about his
hometown. Apparently, the dragonewt village was a settlement on a faraway
island — established by someone who I suspected was another world
transferee in the past.
"Dragonewts have tougher bodies and greater pools of magic energy than
humans. This has remained unchanged from the past, but the dragonewts of
old arrogantly used their power as a shield to believe other species to be far
inferior. However, the one who created our village was not only a human, but a
master swordsman who could best a dragonewt. It is said that he singlehandedly brought down the dragonewt tyranny towards humans with that
sword arm of his. But he mercifully spared the dragonewt he defeated, which
awed them into thus becoming his disciples. They relocated to an uninhabited
island and settled down away from the frightened eyes of others, where we
have inherited their samurai spirit to this day. This was the tale of our exile and
subsequent formation of our village."
For the record, Asagi was the grandson of one of those dragonewt disciples,
and his manner of speaking was passed down through the generations. The
origin of his name also came from a samurai group that appeared in a folktale
of theirs — the color of their kimono, apparently. And the person who
transferred worlds highly respected that group, or something.
...The more I listened to it, the more I felt something odd about this
otherworlder's actions. Perhaps the stories had become distorted as they were
retold throughout time, but it kind of felt like I was listening to a foreigner with
a slight misunderstanding about Japanese culture.
"...Hey, your conversation's real interesting and all, but shouldn't you get to
work already?"
"Oh, fair point."
"Looks like we got carried away."
Jeff's words brought us back to the present, and we got back to work.
"I'm going to open the door now, but first take this handkerchief and soak it
before wrapping it around your face."
I gave the cleaner slimes an order to fill the container I prepared with their
deodorant solution.
"What is that?"
"This is the deodorant solution of the cleaner slimes. It reduces bad smells
dramatically. Poisons and other toxins won't enter your body this way."
"I see."
The three of them watched me soak my own handkerchief and wrap it around
my face before copying me.
"I'm going to open it now."
Then, I opened the door...
"I'll be back la-"
"Urgh! Geh..."
I was halfway through my farewells before heading off to work when Asagi
suddenly started retching.
"Are you okay?"
"Forgive me. I was prepared for a stench when the door opened, but couldn't
smell anything so I let my guard down. Dragonewts have noses as sensitive as
beastkin. The moment the handkerchief slipped, I ended up like this."
Oh, so that was why. I was the same at first.
"Well, that's just how it is. I'm a human and the same thing happened to me
yesterday. It smelled so bad, it reached my eyes. I wouldn't have been able to
bear it if it weren't for my slimes. I'll leave the deodorant solution here, so
please use it freely. Now, I'll be off for real this time."
When I entered the cesspit with the slimes, I found it to be in the same
terrible state as yesterday. I appraised it to see if I could identify the bacteria
before I began cleaning, and this came up:
Idake virus: A pathogenic bacteria that occurs on rare occasions where filth
has accumulated in large volumes and remained in a humid environment for
long periods of time. Chance of outbreak increases the longer it is left
untouched. Originally a harmless inhabitant of the human body, it turns
pathogenic with mutation. Outbreak can be prevented with appropriate
disposal of filth, such as burial or incineration.
Latency period: Onset begins within 10 hours of infection.
Symptoms: Develops in the order of dizziness, fever, chills, numbness in limbs,
full-body paralysis, mental deterioration, cardiac arrest. Life-threatening.
After-effects: Paralysis in limbs may remain.
Transmission: Oral infection.
Remarks: Weak to heat and aridity. Remedy available.
There really was a terrible bacteria present! I cleaned it all before I noticed
last time, so I didn't get to appraise it. I should have done it yesterday! Then I
could have offered more concrete information. And wait, there was a remedy?!
The moment I found out the disease name, the corresponding medicine and
recipe just surfaced in my head like I was recalling something I knew. It seemed
like it was in the knowledge I received. I should inform those above about this.
"Everyone, can you hear me?"
"What's wrong, nya?"
I cleaned myself and the surrounding area before the door and opened it a
little, which Miya noticed immediately.
"I used Appraisal before I began cleaning. As a result, I discovered the toxicant
is a source of an epidemic called the Idake virus. Furthermore, the Idake virus
has a remedy. I returned to pass on this information."
"Is that for real, nya?!"
"Yes, there's no mistaking it. The remedy will require several expensive
ingredients, and it may be too late for us to prepare it now, but could you send
a message to the guildmaster anyway?"
"I'll go. If I tell the old man the disease name and remedy, he'd probably
prepare enough for us, even if it's expensive. I don't know how long it'll take to
prepare, so make it quick."
"Wait a minute. Tell him how to make the remedy at the same, that way all
you need is the ingredients and an apothecary."
"You even know how to make the remedy?!"
"It was one of the things I learned from my grandmother."
"That is most reassuring to hear. If you could impart that knowledge, I shall
write it down."
Asagi promptly took out writing materials he had prepared in advance, and I
informed him of the medicine's formulation. He didn't seem to understand all
the technical terms, but he wrote everything down smoothly when I told him
how to spell the words. I hadn't written anything with a brush for a long time.
I've only been using quills or pens made from wood since coming here. But I
never used brushes in past life either, apart from writing New Year's greetings.
"Done. Will this do?"
I read over the contents once to make sure there were no problems, then Jeff
immediately went running off with the note. Then I headed into the toilet pit.
I didn't need any more information from the filth. It was time to dispose of it.
I'm counting on you, slimes!
At my order, the slime by my feet expanded its body like a balloon until it
filled the entire space in the staircase of the cesspit. After yesterday's splitting,
the total number of scavenger slimes surpassed a thousand. Their combined
form was titled King Scavenger Slime instead of Huge, the size of its body being
significantly larger than yesterday. It seemed like a thousand slimes formed a
king slime, but it seemed capable of combining further, so it was possible it
could change again.
I didn't know how far it could go, but... the skills were as follows:
King Scavenger Slime x1
Skills: Disease Resistance 7, Poison Resistance 7, Foul Feeder 8, Cleanse 8,
Deodorize 8, Deodorant Solution 5, Stench Release 7, Nutrient Reduction 6,
Physical Attack Resistance 3, Maximize 4, Minimize 6, Jump 3, Gluttony 1
Consume and Absorb had disappeared in exchange for a new skill called
Gluttony. When I tried using it, the king scavenger slime maximized its size to
reach the ceiling of the pit and started clearing through the filth at a speed
several times faster than before. With its bigger body, it was able to reach the
walls and ceiling that the regular scavenger couldn't, so it might be a good idea
to let it split again to have two kings on each end of the corridors with regular
slimes filling the middle.
However... was it because the skill was still level 1? While the speed of a
single slime was exponentially faster, the 730 slimes from yesterday seemed to
work faster. It might be better to work with numbers for now. Having reached
that conclusion, I ordered the slimes to break apart and clean that way, working
on the ceiling and walls myself.
The doubling of the scavenger slime numbers really had a big impact. I
worked nonstop until the first cesspit was cleaned, but today's work took two
hours less than yesterday. After finishing my work, I cleaned up my clothes and
belongings and stepped outside. Then...
"Yo, is something else up?"
"I've finished cleaning here. Please confirm it's clean before I move on to the
next."
"Already, nya?!"
"Was it not meant to be one pit a day?"
Huh? Ah! I see, yesterday I cleaned one pit in a day. Based on that
information, the three of them assumed I could only clean one a day.
"It seems like there was a slight misunderstanding. The truth is, after I
finished cleaning yesterday, the scavenger slimes were triggered into splitting. I
was forming contracts with the split slimes in the cesspit, which took some
time. The actual time it took to clean one cesspit was around 5 hours, but the
numbers doubled through splitting too, so it goes by much faster now."
"But even if the numbers doubled, it just went from 1 to 2, right? How much
faster could they possibly, well... eat?"
"This slime is normally shrunk with a minimize skill, but it's actually an
advanced type of scavenger slime called a king scavenger slime. Do you know of
big slimes?"
"Yeah, I do. The big-ass slimes, right?"
"The advanced species above big slimes are formed by combining groups of
the same species of slime. That's why what looks like one slime is actually a
lump of many."
I made the scavenger slime split into 20 slimes before the three of them.
"Wha-nya?!"
"Whoa... Are you serious...?"
"This is..."
"I learned the other day that barely any research has been done on slimes, so
the only ones who know this are myself and my acquaintances. Since I have
always researched slimes, I believed it was common knowledge when I talked to
everyone. I'm sorry."
"No, if the work can go smoother then it's for the better. But how many of
these scavenger slimes are gathered in this one slime?"
"1464 slimes."
"A thousand and...?! No, excuse me... If there are that many, then this speed
is most reasonable."
"Please keep the slimes a secret as part of the confidentiality of this mission."
After that conversation, they confirmed the pit had been cleaned and I moved
onto the next cesspit... rinse and repeat