Chapter 18: Hunting and Building: Day 1

The next morning, me, Blanche and Lena headed to the adventurers guild and got on carriages to head out to the mines. The start of the job was at the mines, but the guild always prepared a few carriages for those who came early. I had already taken care of kids in the dimension home and left them with board and card games I made for me and Blanche to play during winter. Since there were games they never heard of before, I had Romi and the goblin trio explain the rules to them.

"Arito?" A female black haired elf looked surprised to see us.

"Oh, miss Emilia, whatever brings you to Aula?"

"I came here as an escort for a merchant caravan, Al is here too, but he went to give the guildmaster here letter from guildmaster of Macedia."

"So you took this job in the meantime?" Blanche asked.

"Yes. We thought it would be safer with more A rankers present."

"That's very comforting to hear."

"Oh? Arito and friends are here too? This will be fun," Al came to the carriage, pushing up his round glasses.

"Good to see you too, Al. Are you done with your report to the guildmaster?"

"Yep, it was apparently about a kid that uses slimes, rings any bell?"

"It might have," I smiled a little worriedly about the context of the letter.

"Well, we were instructed to overlook the promotion of some would be C rankers too, so you will have to move with our third member, come on, don't be shy," Al beaconed to a man standing to side who had long elvish ears, strikingly golden eyes with blue tint to them and blonde hair.

"I'm Rei Abelle… magic swordsman… I can use lighting magic to some extent…"

"Are you perhaps related to Miss Helmina Abelle from Summoners guild?"

"Ah yes, that is my mother… have you met her?"

"She was processing my admission to the guild."

"I see, so you are that Arito… it explains a lot. Ancient with weird armor… and accompanied by albino elf too… I see… I'm for a ride again…" Rei's voice was losing strength every second and turned into dark muttering.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just that he's bad at socializing, he will be better in the actual battle so don't worry about him too much," Emilia laughed softly and helped her husband on the carriage.

"So, I heard you did some serious damage to Emilia's pride, how did you do that?" Rei muttered while looking at me after about half an hour of silence in the moving carriage.

"I have combat slimes hidden in my armor. Miss Emilia couldn't get out of the sticky trap I prepared for her."

"I see, but slimes? Really?"

"I trained them to the best of my ability."

"Slimes, even as advanced species, are G rank at best, so it is hard to believe an A ranker like Emilia would struggle against them. What kind of slimes are they?"

"Poison, Acid, and Spore slimes are the most effective for killing. Cocoon and Resin slimes are great for restraining enemies, those are what I used back then. Oh, and Cleaning slimes cleaned up the mess."

"Yeah, Cocoon slimes are a huge pain to deal with. Their sticky threads are often more durable than they look and the steel-like thread can break weapons too…" Rei nodded.

"Wait, did you fight Cocoon slime before?! Why do I not know about it?!" Emilia shook with Rei.

"You never asked…" Rei's eyes were a little empty, but nevertheless locked on my handguards, where two slimes were resting, "Those slimes are interesting… What can Spore slime do?"

"That slime is all about spores, so it can release them and change their effect. One type of spores poisons anyone who breathes them in, another causes paralysis, then it can also cause allergic reactions, dizziness, they can make you tired and sleepy as well. Oh, and where these spores land, moss and eventually flowers will grow. I once saw a goblin zombie that was mostly taken over by moss, so it was immune to fire damage."

"That sounds amazing, but what kind of flowers grow from them?"

"Many kinds, but the one I harvest the most is probably Gracia Lumega. That's a medicinal plant used for magic restoring potions, but their effects are weaker than the naturally grown ones."

"Is that so? A shame, I know a lot of mages who make their own medicine that would carve for a way to grow them."

"That's understandable," I nodded to him as the carriage came to a sudden stop, "Gracia Lumega tends to grow in old grottos, where there is little to no sun. It is also believed that wherever Gracia Lumega grows, Dark Magic Crystals appear more, but that is just a superstition."

"Indeed, anyone who knows their stuff is wary of Gracia Lumega, because it is a favorite food for some monsters with dark magical attributes. Have you ever fought Dark magic using monsters?"

"There was that Dark Hobgoblin, right?" Blanche tried to jog my memory.

"Yeah, I believe so, but that guy went down too easily. Maybe the Goblin Shaman from a few days ago was stronger?"

"I think he was," Blanche nodded to my question with a carefree look on her face.

As we chatted, we arrived at the mines and broke into smaller groups. The old building made from the black stones was used as a command center and the guildmaster was already barking out orders to several high ranking parties.

As it was decided beforehand, our group and Rei would go in together while Emilia and Al would join the group of D rankers that were supposed to move up to C rank.

And so, the hunt began. Thanks to the map I made previously, we already knew where we were going. The dungeon appeared on the second level of the mines and spread from there all the way to the sixth floor.

"There is a monster up ahead…" Rei's face stiffened and he touched his sword's hilt.

"Hmm… it's a small one, probably a slime."

"Yeah, are you going to capture it?" Blanche asked me while putting her daggers back to their scabbards.

"I guess I ca— there is something bigger now…"

"Sniff, sniff… You smell it? This pee-like smell is a telltale of Kobold."

"It's only one, I'm gonna catch both of them real quick," I cracked my neck and stepped forward. After a short while of walking I saw the slime, used [Pick Up] and tamed it, before tossing it into the Dimension Home. Next came the Kobold. Its head was reminiscent of a bear except for its wolf-like ears. The rest of its anthropomorphic body was more on the thin side, but toned nevertheless. Its entire body was covered in black fur and its hands and feet had sharp claws.

"Web shooter!" I shot the silk of Cocoon slime at the Kobold and immobilized him with it. I quickly used taming magic on it.

"Release me! Hoo-man!"

Surprised by its high communication skill, I quickly tried to calm myself and continue.

"Even if I release you, there might be other humans to hunt you. If you work for me, I will let you live."

"What?"

"Work or die!"

"Work!"

"Good boy. I will open my Dimension home. You can't hurt anyone inside, is that understood?"

"Yes!"

After this brief conversation, I let the Kobold in my dimension home after rinsing his body with Cleaning slimes. Funnily enough, his body went from black to dark brown, that's how dirty he was. Well, he walked off holding the Cleaning slimes dearly, so I guess he will be fine.

"Done taming?" Rei asked me.

"Thank you for not attacking right away."

"It's fine, but are you okay? What about the contract?"

"It's good. I guess I have good aptitude with Kobolds," I smiled at him and we continued the hunt.

 We slew about thirty regular Kobolds, ten Kobold Knights and fifteen Kobold Warriors all the while I tamed a few that seemed friendly to me. During this time, we headed out to get some fresh air. Is it just me, or are all the Kobolds I tamed today cowards? I mean, most of the kobolds attacked us and even when I restrained the aggressive ones, the contract still failed.

"Aaaaaah, finally some fresh air…" Rei sighed in relief when we got to the sun filled valley, "But mark me impressed, I never thought you would tame that Kobold Priest."

"I was surprised too, but he seemed smarter than the rest, giving up and pleading with me to spare him," I smiled at remembering the single kobold with white fur that was holding white staff with blue crystal. According to him, he was serving the Kobold King, but due to his poor magical energy he was chased away a few days ago. Funnily enough, that saved him from fate that met the king from the hands of Lena's parents.

"Oh, you are back already?" the guildmaster asked.

"Yes. We hunted quite a lot. These kids managed to take down several Kobold Warriors and Kobold Knights on their own. Hardly needing any help from me… honestly I felt like a luggage carrier most of the time…" Rei commented on our hunt, "Anyway, I believe that once they finish the minimum requirement for Rank up, they should get it right away."

"So you recommend them as well then. Good. Honestly, it felt that my brother was makin' up stuff when he spoke so highly of these kids."

"Excuse me, I've told you before, but I'm going to dig some stones in a different mineshaft, so if you will look for me, it's that one over there, okay?"

"Yeah, I heard 'bout it. Go have fun kid," the guildmaster allowed me to go without any problem, so I headed to the shaft which I explored with Lena and Blanche previously and once I was in, I opened my dimension home and let the kids out.

"Oh wow! We really are in the mines!" one of the dwarven girls let out a sigh of admiration.

Once we washed them and changed their rags for clothes made by the Cocoon slimes, they instantly started looking more like people than animals (even though most of them are beastmen).

"Aniki…" the rhinofolk boy came up to me, "I know you are already takin' care of us and building us a home, but… it feels wrong to only receive from you, so I would like to help you any way I can!"

"Yeah! Me too!"

"Me three!"

"I want to help as well!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

The kids swarmed me with pleading eyes.

"Okay, I got it. First tell me, do any of you possess a Status board?"

"Uh… no… when some of us turned ten, we went to the church, but they shoo us away because we were stinky…"

So the church did such a thing, eh? And here I thought they preached that everyone of any status is equal before the gods. Guess some are more equal than others in this town's church… Well, it's another thing that I can report to Kalvig. Maybe I will even get him to send a letter to Lady Ingrid, that could be fun.

"I see. Then could those who are ten and older rise their hands?" I asked and seven of the sixteen kids raised it as asked.

"Okay, you nine who are still under that threshold will learn some basic chores from Blanche and I will start training the seven of you so you could support yourselves."

"Okaaaaaay!!!" The kids seemed really happy for some reason.

"Now then, this mine is dangerous so you will go out while I mine for rocks for your new home."

"Okaaaaaay!!!" The kids trot out of the cave where Blanche and Lena lead them to a nearby forest to collect some herbs.

"Now then, time to build the orchard and liquor factory."

My plan for today was to raise the ceiling of the shaft from 2 meters to about 3,5 meters and make living quarters which would be compromised from: Bedroom, Kitchen/Dining room, Alchemy/Mixing room, Wolf room, Goblin Room, Romi's bedroom, Training room, Storage room and Cold storage room.

In about an hour I had my Kitchen/Dining room and Bedroom prepared. This left me with about ten tons of material. This yields about five and a half tons of regular stone, three tons of coal, half a ton of aluminum and copper each, two hundred kilograms of iron and 150 kilograms of Magic Stone and Magic Crystal fragments each.

While I stored everything apart from stones in my Item box that already started to threaten to spill, I mixed the stone with Purified dirt I had from way back and formed them into uniform bricks. Once I had my Slimes store the bricks in the Dimension home I headed back out and found Blanche and Lena teaching the kids about herbs they collected so I decided to head back and experiment a little with my Carbon slime.

What I want to know is, what kind of shapes can be the carbon it expels. Maybe it could help with the diamond production.

I made a few diamonds and had the Carbon slime take a look at it. But to my surprise, the slime ate it and spit it out again.

"Would it be possible to make it?" I asked the slime and he wobbled around, most likely saying he will try.

He started rolling and wobbling around until it suddenly stopped and spit out a small rock.

Pure diamond

Diamond made by a slime with no impurities in it. Once cut properly it will be one of the most precious stones on the continent. Roughly 2 centimeters in diameter.

"Eureka!!! You are amazing little guy!!!" I raised the slime in my hands happily after running Appraisal on the stone made by him.

Alright! Now I just need to feed it enough to make it Split a lot so I can make more— Wait, if I do that, I will ruin the market and lower the price, so I should aim for a smaller number of slimes and produce less diamonds over a longer time.

With this decided, I let the slime eat some coal and headed out to meet with Blanche, Lena and the rest of the kids. Hmm, I guess I should hire a cook and caretakers for the orphanage once I'm done with everything.

"Aniki! We learned a lot from Big sis Blanche! I can already tell apart five different herbs!" one of the smaller boys ran up to me and hugged me with sparkling eyes.

"So cool," I smiled and patted his head.

Once the rest of the kids went through their round of bragging, I sent them back into my Dimension home and together with Lena and Blanche I went to afternoon hunt. The hunt in itself went as smoothly as the one in the morning and we hunted even more kobolds than before and the number of my tamed kobolds rose as well. I even managed to tame one knight and three warriors.

"Alright everyone! The hunt is over for today! Now go home and rest properly. Your rewards will be paid out before boarding the carriages so don't worry about being underpaid!"

"Ooooooooooh!!" the adventurers let out a cheer and started heading to the carriages.

"So you are Arito and his team right? Your guild cards please," the receptionist asked for our card and put them on the Sphere device. "Alright, I've confirmed your kills so let me calculate your rewards."

The rewards according to my calculation should be 3,950 Alba for regular Kobolds, 1,350 Alba for Kobold Warriors and 990 Alba for Kobold Knights for a grand total of 6,290 Alba.

"I'm done calculating, you will be receiving 6,300 Alba for all 106 Kobolds slain. Also, if you manage to slay the same number of Kobolds during the next three days of the expedition you will be promoted to F rank," the receptionist handed us back our cards and money compromised from silver coins.

"Thank you very much, but what about Mr. Rei? I would like to split the reward with him, but I don't see him anywhere."

"You needn't worry about that. Mr. Rei said that he will only take money promised to him for guiding you as he didn't have to slay any Kobolds today. Also he allows your free roaming."

"I see, I understand," I nodded and went to the carriage with the others. We headed to the town and at the gates I jumped off and went to my plot of land to start the building process. With the amount of material I had on my hands, I would be able to build at least the ground floor.

I had the slimes take out the bricks and with the Resin slimes's glue, I started stacking them up, making sure I left enough space for windows in the dining room. The base floor was finished sooner than I thought, which left me with the problem of the bareness of the walls. It was mostly just bricks and glue. I guess I will need to get some lime and make it into white slabs of stone to plaster them on… I'm also running low on wood material, I guess I will have to cut down some trees near the mines. Well, that's work for tomorrows Arito.