Ran off again, huh?
I had just gotten back from the dungeon when Mother caught me, but determined to spend some time relaxing, I headed for the greenhouse—only to find two slimes bouncing on the sofa.
Slimes who love Tonmi? Did they sneak out again?
I sat down next to the slimes, but they didn't react at all and just kept bouncing on the sofa playfully.
I asked Atre, “You can’t talk to slimes, right?” He said that he might be able to communicate with one of them, though not at the moment. But if he gave the slime some of his mana, it might work temporarily.
There’s a technique like that? Atre never told me about it.
I pressed him for more details, but he wouldn’t tell me. Oh well, I gave up trying to get answers.
When I asked, “Do you want my mana?” one of the slimes jumped onto my lap.
I placed my palm on the slime and gave it some mana. After a while, the slime started to tremble, so I stopped.
Looking over at Atre, he said, “It said, ‘That was delicious, thank you.’”
Apparently, it had been waiting on this sofa for me.
The slime explained that among the slimes who eat weeds, there’s one who really loves Uga leaves and had come to ask if it could be fed only Uga leaves, just like the Tonmi-loving slime eats only Tonmi.
Uga refers to ginger.
It seems the stems and leaves of the Uga plant were food for the slimes. Since it’s not in season now, they’ve been eating weeds instead, but the ones who love Tonmi have been living well, and this slime was so jealous it had become aggressive.
It said it came to ask me for help because it knows how frustrating it is not to be able to eat what you like.
Hmm… This is a problem.
But maybe… if I use the liquid from a slime that only eats Uga (ginger), I might be able to make warm fabric.
I’ll get scolded if I do it on my own, though.
For now, I’ll take the slimes to Mother and consult with her.
I scooped up the two slimes and went to see Mother.
She looked surprised when she saw me holding the slimes, but she listened to my story.
“A slime that loves Uga leaves, huh? I feel like it could really make the kind of warm fabric you’re imagining, Hardt. Even if we don’t do it, someone will probably figure it out eventually. But then again, unless someone can grow Uga all year round, it’ll be impossible. Still, what surprises me more is that if you give it your mana, Atre can temporarily talk to slimes. How does that even work?”
Please don’t bring that up. Atre won’t explain it in detail either…
Also, while talking about it, I started thinking that if you raise a slime that eats only one specific thing, it might produce other useful materials.
It’d be nice if someone researched slimes.
I don’t want more work, so I’m staying quiet. Someone else will probably pick up on it eventually.
I asked Tom, the gardener who manages the greenhouse, to secure a spot, and we decided to grow Uga.
Growing it will be my job… I seriously need to find someone else to do this.
Since I didn’t want them ready too quickly, I took about two weeks to grow the Uga.
Tom handled the fertilizer and soil preparation; all I did was water them...
Then one day, the whole family brought Uga stems with leaves attached to the slime shed.
A slime came bouncing toward me excitedly.
This must be the one—the Uga-loving slime.
I handed it the stem with leaves, and it started eating with astonishing speed. It looked like it had been starving.
“I thought liking Uga leaves was odd, but judging by how it’s eating, it really does love them.” Said Brother Gerald.
“At this rate, we might have to grow as much Uga as Tonmi.”
“We’ll have to isolate this slime too.” Said Father and Mother.
Well, I leave the rest to them.
I’ll just focus on watering the Tonmi and Uga plants.
What do you think about this chapter?
