Chapter 344:
An Equally Rare Magic Stone
“Ciel uses the power of a magic stone to shapeshift into a slime so it can be in the village.”
I was a little conflicted on how to go about telling them, but when I saw how merrily Sora and Flame were frolicking around Captain Tabulo, I decided to hide nothing and tell everything.
“It uses a magic stone…to shapeshift into a slime? You know, I think I did read somewhere in the ancient texts about a magic stone that has shapeshifting powers, but… Wait, do you actually have that stone?!”
“Yes, sir.”
Tabulo watched Sora bounce around him. Then he suddenly gauged Sora’s size with his hands, looked at Ciel, and shook his head. He probably thought it was bizarre that a creature as big as Ciel could shapeshift into the size of a slime. He probably wouldn’t be able to believe it unless he saw it with his own eyes. Though, when Ashley had first seen the owner of that enormous magic power appear right in front of him, the shock made him completely forget that it was an adandara that had shapeshifted from a slime. It wasn’t until after he had come to visit us many times and happened to witness the adandara turning into a slime that it finally registered with him…and he had yelped in shock.
“Even your magic stones are rare…”
“Ha ha ha… But we’re lucky we have this one. It’s what lets Ciel travel with us.”
I felt eternally grateful to Flame. If the red slime hadn’t made that shapeshifting magic stone, Ciel would have been very lonely.
“Yeah… Anyway, we’re running short on time, and what a pity. Things are going to get quite busy in Hatahi, so I won’t be able to see you again for a while. Besides, I can’t come visit Ciel in the village anyway—I’d draw too much attention if I did.”
Too bad, I thought he could come visit us if he knew Ciel was in the village. But I’m glad he declined so as not to call attention to us.
“Yes, there would be plenty of reasons to visit an adandara, but not so much for a slime,” Druid said.
I nodded in understanding. You could use an adandara’s immense powers as an excuse to keep close observation, but you couldn’t do that with a slime. Not even a rare one.
“Yes, it’s really too bad, knowing it’s in the village and not being able to visit.”
Wait, does that mean Ciel shouldn’t stay in the village?
“Captain Tabulo, are we doing okay on time?” Ashley asked.
“We can stay just a little longer,” Tabulo said curtly.
“But the Vice-Captain will yell at you.”
“True… Well, if I must, I must. Let’s go. Thank you very much for letting us visit today,” Captain Tabulo said with a heavy sigh of resignation. Then his gaze shifted over to Ciel…and sighed again. It really would be hard for him to visit again now that the village was going to be all abuzz with the festival.
“Ha ha ha, good luck with your work. We’re looking forward to the festival,” Druid said.
“Got it. I promise it’ll be a good one.”
After petting Ciel, Sora, and Flame one last time, Captain Tabulo left for the village. Ashley was going with him, so we waved goodbye and sent them off. I hadn’t told them about Sol. I opened the bag to peek inside, and it was still asleep.
“I’m still surprised he came to see us in the morning,” Druid said.
“Me, too. I assumed he wouldn’t come until the afternoon.”
Captain Tabulo had come the very first morning after he heard about our adandara. The response was just so fast that Druid and I were both a little awestruck.
“I’m surprised he could find time to see us. He must be swamped with festival preparations.”
“Yes, and I got the impression he was giving his coworkers a hard time,” I said.
“Yeah…he probably is.” Druid chuckled, which made me laugh in turn. I felt bad for doing it, but imagining him running around flapping his arms was just too funny. I was sure he was a nice, decisive man otherwise. People who stood at the top had to be that way.
“Well, let’s finish up our tasks for the day. The village is about to fill up with tourists for the festival, and we won’t be able to go hunting anymore when that happens.”
“You really think we can’t?”
“People will be coming and going all the time, so monsters will stay out of sight to avoid them.”
“Oh, really? Huh, so monsters like to hide from people, too.”
“Yeah, humans are the natural enemies of weak monsters. The only monsters who actually come closer when they sense human auras are either excited, berserk, or the type of monster that attacks humans.”
I thought back to the berserk monsters we had met on our way to this village. “Yeah, I’d definitely like to avoid running into any more berserk monsters for a while. I’ve had more than my fill of them on our travels so far.”
Their eyes were utterly terrifying. And even though Druid and Ciel had protected me, I was still scared and worried.
“Isn’t there a way that…maybe I could learn to fight, too?”
The last ordeal we went through had really made me feel like a burden, but I didn’t have any fighting skills… I had exercised, hoping I could develop the muscles to fight, but I couldn’t put on any bulk for some reason. I’d asked Rattloore to have a look at me, but he just chuckled and recommended that I enhance my aura-perceiving powers so I wouldn’t have any encounters with monsters in the first place. Why did I have so much stamina yet so little fighting ability? It baffled me.
“Mmmrrrgggh…” Druid made a puzzled noise.
I’d had Druid evaluate me, too, so I understood where that reaction was coming from.
“All I need is to be able to buy some time to run away whenever we’re attacked,” I insisted.
I wanted to let Druid and Ciel fight freely without needing to worry about me. When that berserk monster attacked me, they were both fixated on keeping it away from me, and that clearly distracted them from the danger they were in. If something like that happened again, and if they were hurt because of it, I would just…
“You’re right. If we’re going to the capital, it’s something we should think about. The area around there is full of dangerous characters.”
“Dangerous characters”?
“Do you mean humans and not monsters?” I asked.
“That’s right. Humans are more cunning and vicious than monsters. Their intelligence makes them a real menace.”
The more I hear about the capital, the less I want to go there. Strange, since it’s the center of this country.
“So, like you said, maybe we should find some way to give you a window to run away if we’re attacked.”
“How can we do that?”
Druid frowned thoughtfully. He seemed to be racking his brain for ideas…but was nothing coming to mind?
“I can’t think of anything right now. If we’re dealing with monsters, we could use a simple tactic. But if it’s humans, that wouldn’t work.”
Are humans really that troublesome?
“Bad people plan their misdeeds meticulously, and they have experience dealing with people trying to stop them. That’s why they’re hard to fight.”
“Oh.”
“Well, we’ve still got a while before we get to the capital, so let’s take our time to think it through. We could also look for a magic item that might help you.”
“Maybe we should send Rose a fax.”
“Great idea. She’s a good person to ask for help.”
We walked into the forest for a while until we came to a little grove of qiblakarla trees. It was a new spot we had discovered two days ago, and we had set our traps there.
“Sounds like we had another successful hunt.”
I could hear the cages rattling, meaning something had to be trapped inside. In fact, it was three cages. And since we had only set those three traps, you could say our hunt was a complete success.
“By the way, didn’t you say you were going to give the gyoza another try today?”
“I did. I remembered a little more about them. The dough apparently stretches better if you use hot water.”
There was one other point about the dough that tugged on my memory. I remembered that you let some time pass after you made the dough. At first, I assumed you used that time to make the filling, but now that seemed wrong. It was like you were supposed to let it sit for a while on purpose…
“I can handle the dough,” Druid said.
“Thanks. I’ll focus on the filling, then.”
Maybe I’ll follow my memory and wait until the dough is completely ready before I make the filling.
“About that filling, could you make it a little spicier?”
Spicier?
“Oh, you mean because we’re taking the day off tomorrow, so you’ll be drinking wine tonight?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while, and I’m in a drinking mood. And the last time we ate gyoza, I thought it would go really well with liquor.”
“Gotcha. Okay, I’ll spice up the filling a little more this time.”
Maybe the flavor would get a little better if I switched up the vegetables? And if we’re going to eat a lot of them, should I add more meat? No, they’ll taste better if they’re full of veggies, too.
“Was the amount of meat compared to the vegetables okay with you?” I asked.
“It was fine, I liked it. But personally, I think I’d prefer if they had more meat in them.”
I guess it’s all a matter of taste. Maybe I’ll make them spicier and add more meat. Then we’ll need to roll out the wrappers thinner and make them small enough to be eaten in two bites.
“Okay, let’s start butchering,” Druid said.
“Yeah, it does take a very long time to make those dough wrappers.”
Lately, I’ve been the one bringing down our speed in the butchering department. Isn’t there a faster way I can cut the meat? Come on, Druid and Ciel, you’re skinning the obitsune way too fast!
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