Chapter 7, Episode 55: Follow-Up #1
A day after the Greatsword Brothers and company attacked me, I packed my dimension home full of supplies and returned to the city. As I was handing over those supplies, I recounted how the night went down. Naturally, the duke’s staff—particularly Lilian, whom I had reassured of my safety before returning home last night—were not too happy to learn that I had put myself in harm’s way. They soon put this issue on the back burner, though; after all, I had returned unscathed, and we still had a lot of work to do in the city.
Fortunately, my attempted assassination was apparently the final step in our opponent’s master plan. We did not encounter any further attacks or sabotage of city operations, save for a few groups of vigilantes and looters. Continued law enforcement and support would soon return Gimul to normalcy. I began taking on various tasks to achieve that end.
Soon, a week flew by.
I was working in what I had decided to call the food production base for now, which was situated in an empty lot in what had previously been the slums. Lilian hurried in, huffing, “Excuse me.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
She explained how Reinhart and the others had returned and were currently at the security company.
“Aren’t they early? The new year is an important holiday for noble society, I hear. We’re only four days in,” I said.
“They attended the most important function of the New Year’s Season and canceled all subsequent plans. Currently, they are being briefed by the guilds and departments involved,” Lilian explained. “They hope to see you tonight, when you and they can discuss matters at length, if needed.”
“Got it. Let’s call it a little early today, since I didn’t have anything else planned,” I proposed. “Once I finish the current batch, I think it’ll be a good time.”
“Understood. Another thing. Do you know where Hudom is?” she asked.
“Vegetable room, third floor,” I answered.
“The duke and duchess have requested his presence at the security company.”
“Oh...I see. Then let me take you to him.” I turned to a helper who had been sent from the Merchant’s Guild. “I’m sorry—I’ll be right back.”
“No problem! We’ll get these ready to ship.”
Then I took Lilian in the direction of a sign that read, “Monsters in Building: Keep Out.” We started up a flight of stairs.
“Every time I set foot here, I am amazed that you grow crops in here,” Lilian remarked.
“They’re just like potted plants,” I said.
Once we made it up the stairs to the second floor, Lilian looked around at the windowless space. It was floored with soil, illuminated with magical items attached to the ceiling, and temperature controlled. Potatoes grown in this controlled environment were now being harvested by the goblins.
I had envisioned this to be a contemporary food factory, even though it didn’t exactly look high-tech. Indeed, it was like I’d thrown a bunch of old-fashioned farms into a concrete building.
“I understand it’s like a greenhouse,” Lilian said. “But something’s different... Well, I certainly didn’t expect the new slime you told me about the other day to be the farm itself.”
“I was just as surprised when the scavenger slimes I had left to tend to the fields had evolved into compost slimes and fertile soil slimes. Not that I had trouble making sense of the evolution, but it was a new discovery.”
Compost slimes looked like dirt mounds and secreted solid fertilizer rather than liquid, heating up during the process. The composition of the fertilizer had slightly changed too. Produce magicified less frequently when using a large quantity of the stuff. While it had gotten less efficient than plain scavenger slimes for my farming method of rapidly growing the crops with wood magic, fertilizers were supposed to be a specialized addition to soil. Further studying farming—learning, for example, when to use the liquid fertilizer from scavenger slimes and when to use the physical fertilizer from compost slimes—would drastically improve the quality of our harvests.
Fertile soil slimes looked like piles of dirt too; their only real distinction from mud slimes was that they contained plenty of nutrients rich for human consumption. The same slime really liked eating a blend of mostly compost slime fertilizer with a little bit of scavenger slime fertilizer, which produced a mysterious boost in productivity. Having weed slimes grow plants like the white clover that restored a soil’s fertility was another way to make the slimes happier and more efficient.
Even accounting for my lack of farming knowledge, using the farming slimes allowed me to make the crops easier to grow—and they’d come out higher quality too.
What was more, a fertile soil slime could evolve into a soil slime, or vice versa. Upon research, I’d also found that some mud slimes and sand slimes that had taken a liking to the earth element also evolved into soil slimes. These factors led me to believe that the evolution of slimes was not a one-way street. I’d discovered that several different types of slimes could become the same after evolving. My experiments had shown that it was not even likely that their affinity for a certain element was fixed. This explained how there could be countless paths of slime evolution. In fact, if I’d tried to represent all the possible evolutions of each type of slime, I’d have ended up with an intricate tapestry, the many possibilities for each type and its evolutions interwoven.
Now I was beginning to wonder if it was appropriate to call this phenomenon evolution at all...but I decided to tackle that later.
“There he is,” I said. “Hudom!”
“Hey, Chief. Miss Lilian. Great to see you.”
“How is it going?” I asked.
“Third harvest now,” Hudom answered. “All thanks to your slimes, but now we have enough to open up shop. Harvesting them is pretty easy with the help of the goblins, especially when the farm itself is like that.”
Hudom chuckled, watching the goblin collect vegetables. In the ground, there were bunches of something that resembled large parsley or celery with finer leaves, evenly distributed throughout the patch of dirt. Harvesting them would mean digging them out one by one...but since my farm was sentient, it simply moved around, meaning we could take the vegetables without a fuss.
That meant that the goblins were not digging at all, eliminating the risk of damaging the crop with any shovels or the like. Compared to the normal harvesting process, this was incredibly quick and easy work. Eliminated the risk of missing some viable crops if they were root vegetables too.
“Kind of feel like we’re insulting traditional farmers, somehow, even though this is so convenient,” Hudom said.
“I can’t deny that,” I said. “But Hudom—I know it’s sudden, but I need you to go with Lilian to the security company headquarters as quickly as possible.” I added that the duke and duchess had returned, eager to talk to him.
Hudom’s expression sobered. “You got it. I’ll go right away. Just want to put myself together, if that’s okay.”
“We have changes of clothes at the security company. We can spare some time for that,” Lilian said.
Still looking solemn, Hudom left the food production plant with Lilian.
On their way out, they left me some advice.
“Please don’t feel like you have to go overboard with this,” Lilian said.
“The city still has some food stored away. These crops are just an extra buffer,” Hudom added.
I only had myself to blame that no one would trust me to manage my own workload for a while.
■ ■ ■
That night, I wrapped up my work earlier than normal as promised and came to the security company headquarters. Immediately, I was granted a meeting with the duke and duchess. Whether they had finished their other meeting already or had set aside time for me, I was ecstatic to see them after all this time.
Slightly anxious on account of what had happened over the past few days, I made my way to the small meeting room where I’d been told to go. Zeph and Camil stood on either side of the door—for security, I assumed. After I’d greeted them, I knocked on the door. I was invited in, and I entered to find the duke and duchess looking weary but relieved.
“It’s been a while,” I said.
“I’m so glad you’re all right, Ryoma.”
“Come. Take a seat.”
As the duchess waved me over, I took my seat across from the couple. Lulunese served us tea and snacks.
“Now, Ryoma, allow me to say this. From the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate all of your efforts to protect the city of Gimul. Thank you,” Reinhart started, and his wife agreed.
“Please, there’s no need for that,” I said. “I just did what I wanted to do. It might have worked out that it served the city and its people, but I was far from the only one doing so.” I meant it too. Not that I couldn’t have made some dent in the problem if I had been all on my own, but my impact would have been minuscule. Things would have gone down much like that dreaded meeting.
“But your life was threatened because of it,” said Reinhart.
“None of the blame lies with you,” I said. “You’ve heard the report, I assume.” When I had made my initial report on the attack, it had stirred up quite a commotion. Through that process, I had relayed some of my conversation with the Greatsword brothers and my thought process. As tactfully as I could, of course. “I really do appreciate your concern. And I trust you both. But...when it comes to fighting, I will always rely on my own strength before anyone else’s. I’ve always been that way, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
I was self-aware enough to know that I was talented. Not that anyone would’ve caught me dead saying that out loud. How prideful would I have come across if they did? This wasn’t a talent bestowed upon me by a god either—it was one I’d inherited from my previous life.
A talent for fighting.
Ever since I could remember, I could usually copy a movement after watching it once and with a little bit of practice. Every time I saw a thug on the street or a martial artist on TV, I felt confident I could beat them if I ever had to fight them. My dad was probably the only person I ever felt like I didn’t stand a chance against.
Come to think of it, I might have decided to hire Fay and Lilyn because of that underlying confidence in my own abilities. Somehow, I doubted that people with normal sensibilities would think to hire former assassins. Truth be told, I would have traded a talent like that in a heartbeat for a talent in studying or getting along with other people...but I supposed I should’ve counted my blessings.
In any case, I knew that I could take on most adults, let alone children, in a fight. Especially if I could use magic or work together with my slimes.
“You’re...right, of course,” Reinhart said. “We’ve known for a while now that you aren’t just a kid to be protected. It sounds like you had your own fail-safes set up, and you’ve made it back just fine. So I won’t make any protests about what you’ve done. Do you agree, Elise?”
“Yes. I’m sure someone or other has already told you everything I’d like to say. It’s not that Ryoma doesn’t understand our concern for him. Jill told me as much. But please be careful. If you ever feel that you need help, you can talk to us or anyone else.”
I was almost expecting a lengthy session of us going in circles about this, but they conceded. Out of concern, though, Elise gave me one more reminder.
“I think you are repeating what he’s been told, Elise.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”
“I know how lucky I am to have people looking out for me,” I said. “And if anyone should apologize, it’s me...but I don’t think this is something I can back down from.” That didn’t stop me from feeling bad about it, though.
“Don’t worry about it,” Reinhart said. “More importantly, Ryoma, what now?”
“Are you leaving the city?” Elise chimed in. “I heard you’re leaving the management of your store to Serge’s staff.”
They were both looking at me anxiously, but I had no intentions of severing ties with them or anything. I’d just planned on taking more gigs as an adventurer. That was going to be my main job, anyway, with the goal of going to the Sea of Trees of Syrus. I was just having a lot more fun than I expected through getting used to the city and its people. So, I was off-loading my responsibilities in the city to make time for adventuring. Since I’d be away more than ever, I decided to leave Carme fully in charge of the laundry shop. Still, I’d remain involved in the business as the sponsor or owner. I wasn’t going to close down shop or give up on any part of my lifestyle. When I told the duke and duchess as much, their expressions brightened.
“I’d been putting off going to the Sea of Trees of Syrus, but I’m comfortable enough preparing food and treating wounds now that I think I finally ought to do it. I haven’t thought about what to do afterwards, but like I said, I have no intention of closing down my business. Not to mention the garbage plant. Once I’m finished, I’ll definitely return to the abandoned mines, and I plan to continue working as an adventurer with this city as my base of operations.”
“I’m very glad to hear that,” said Reinhart. “To be honest with you, that’s what I was concerned about the most—that we had dragged you out of that forest and made you live an unhappy life out here.”
“Not at all,” I said. “Like I always say, living in the city was wonderful. It was like a dream. It’s just that I don’t think it’s my style to stay in one place for too long. It’s a little easier on me if I get some distance once in a while... I’m selfish, at the end of the day.”
“Plenty of people don’t feel at home in large groups or cities,” Elise said. “It’s true those people are often isolated from society...but I think that’s just a part of who you are, Ryoma. I can’t tell you that I’m not sad you’re leaving, but I feel better that you’ll be coming back. At the end of the day, you should live the life you want to live.” She offered me a cup of tea and a snack. “Try these, Ryoma. We stopped by a famous shop in the capital before we left.”
“I will, thank you.” I took the snack she offered me. Sweetness burst in my mouth. Maybe it was the delicious treat or the smiles across from me, but I felt the atmosphere warm and lighten in the room.
We stayed in the meeting room awhile, celebrating each other’s safety.
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