Chapter 6 Field Trip I
Entering the guild hall I greeted Angela, the blue haired receptionist lady, who was standing at the counter. As usual, the guild was empty in the morning. However it does get really busy towards the late morning hours all the way until evening.
“Morning~”
“Oh, if it isn’t Tetsu. Congratulations on completing the training course. Are you here to take your first request?”
“Yes, please give me a good beginner request.”
“Then, please wait just a moment.”
Angela immediately began shuffling papers around at the counter.
This receptionist lady is actually the one I first met. As it turns out, the odd meeting we had was due to my pale skin and dark droopy eyes, but more so due to the pink slime that had been attacking my leg. Also she didn’t expect me, who seemed extremely thin and ghoulish, to complete the training. Halfway into the week, I began to look more like a human. So her confidence in me rose as we both began to talk more. Of course I haven’t checked out exactly how I look since then, but judging from my skin tone I seem to be much healthier.
“Here you are. This request is to subjugate slimes in the fields around town. Lately, they’ve been increasing in number. It’s become troublesome for merchants traveling in and out of town as they easily get caught into the carriage wheels.”
Taking the piece of paper Angela handed me, I took a look at the request.
“Slime… then I’ll do my best…”
The request detailed out, to kill and bring back 20 slime cores as proof of subjugation. I’m a little embarrassed to ask Angela since I’m not sure, but how do you kill a slime?!! And moreover they have cores?!!
Walking out of the guild hall, I head over to the south gate. Incidentally it’s the same gate I came through when I came into this town. This town is called Canute. It’s mostly a trade town bordering in between the kingdom of Minerva towards the south and the Grim Claw Mountains towards the north. Both places are roughly a day’s trip away by carriage so there’s always a lot of traffic going to both places.
Reaching the guard post at the south gate entrance, I greet the two guards on standby.
“Yo!”
“Heading out? If so be careful, there have been a few rumors saying a rare unique boss slime is outside in the fields terrorizing adventurers.”
“Ah, thanks for the info. I’ll be careful.”
Waving a hand at the 2 guards, I quickly jog towards the nearest field in search of some slimes.
“HYAHaHAhAhaHAhHahAHahAhA DIe! dIE! DiE! dIe! Die! dIE! DIEEEEE! BuRN! BUrN! bURN! BURn! AhhHhHyAHAHAHahAHAha”
In the middle of a field, there was a girl with medium length wavy blond hair. She donned a pointy hat, while wearing a one piece purple robe. As she madly laughed, sparks of fire lit up the surroundings as she crazily screamed out BURN!
Despite her seemingly cute petite figure, the crazy maniacal laughter and gibberish she was screaming was something else entirely.
Being completely weary of her, I kept a distance and crept by. I absolutely made sure to completely avoid her at all costs. A crazy little girl like that is definitely someone I don’t want to get mixed up with.
“AhaHAHAhahAHAhahAHh…”
Hearing the crazy laughter slowly fading away, I relaxed a little knowing I was no longer near her. Sitting down in the field I opened by bag and examined the things I had on me.
[Mithril Dagger]
[27 copper coins]
Gah! To think I’m running so low on funds! However this current request would pay out 5 big copper coins completing it. That would roughly last me about another 2 weeks. However, from the time I fought with that pink slime, I know it won’t be easy finishing the request quickly.
Looking around diligently, I put away the bag and take out the knife as soon as I spot a slime hopping around. However, the slime isn’t pink but purple? I guess they must vary in color. I immediately walk towards the stance and ready a battle stance. From the week of training I had with instructor Reinsfield, I know I should be able to take on at least a slime now.
As this was my first genuine fight with a dagger, I thought back on how Assassins used them back in my days playing Project Iris Online. What came to mind was the reverse grip stance. Generally speaking, holding the knife handle so the blade comes from the bottom of your hand allows better maneuverability with all 8 joints.
“Alright, this will work.”
Mumbling to myself, I worked up my courage and approached the slime. When I got within a meter of the, I noticed that inside of the slime was a small round ball. However thinking back the pink slime didn’t have that at all. Maybe it’s a different type of slime, since this one is purple afterall.
Approaching the slime with a dash, I quickly cut it in half.
“…”
Expecting the slime to regenerate like the pink slime, I waited. But what happened as soon as it was cute into 2 pieces, the slime halves dissolved leaving only the core. Thinking myself how strange these purple slimes are, I had decided to avoid any trouble with pink slimes. Killing 20 other slimes will suffice.
Picking up the translucent slime core that was on the ground, I quickly searched out more slimes to kill.
Killing 16 slimes, I decided to take a break and sat down. Killing the slimes was much easier than I expected. Slimes had a lot of different colors, from blue to yellow. However after finding even red slimes I realized that there weren’t any pink slimes no matter where I went. So after all this time, the information I’ve gotten up until now had clicked together. The slime the guards mentioned, they were no doubt talking about the pink slime I had first encountered. The one I couldn’t kill no matter what how many times I slashed at it, the one with no core, and the boss of slimes. However, there was one thing that popped into my mind. Why was it so weak if it was a unique monster? I suppose I could ask around the guild later.
Right now, the sun was slightly overhead which mean it was late morning. When I had woken up, the sun was just rising. Lying on my back, I thought to myself that there was still almost nothing I knew about this world.
“Maybe I should head to a library”
Talking to myself again, I closed my eyes and thought about PIO. Right now I could be finishing my legendary weapon! But I wonder if I’ll be able to go back. Or will I be stuck here forever?
Feeling a little lonely missing my friends in PIO I stood back up, and began searching for the last 4 slimes to complete my request.
“Hah… too bad there isn’t a status window in this world”
Giving a sigh, I muttered to the empty fields talking to myself.
Ding!
<Status>
<Tetsu Tagami>
[Lv. 1]
[Race: Human]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 150/150]
[Str: 8]
[Agi: 6]
[MA: 9]
[Luk: ???]
<Passive Skills>
[Sword Mastery: 1/10]
[Dagger Mastery: 1/10]
[Muscle Mastery: 6/10]
<Titles>
[Living Zombie]
[Otherworldly Traveler]
[???]
“This is…?”
The status window had finally showed itself, completely baffling me.
However, something else surprised me even more before I could comprehend the status window that had opened.
Rumble Rumble
It was as if there was an earthquake happening. The ground around me was shaking constantly. Looking into the distance, approaching me was... a horde of slimes...
And in the front, was the pink slime leading the group.