by Sakon Kaidou
“Ah...”
A moment later, the tip of the wire I’d extended got cut off and fell to the floor. I instantly concluded that she’d attacked in response to either my disgust or the attempt at feeding. Despite both the wire and the slime being made of mithril, the cut was impressively clean, making the tip of the wire as flat and sharp as a mirror.
I slowly brought what remained of the wire closer to her, causing her to repeatedly sever more and more of it. The way it gradually got smaller reminded me of a certain stick-shaped sweet. It didn’t take long for the wire to be reduced to nothing but pieces of mithril scattered on the floor.
“This thing cost me 2,000 lir,” I sighed before finger-throwing the last bit of it towards the slime. It, too, got split in half the moment it entered her “personal space,” so to speak.
“You seem to be having a hard time,” said the shop’s owner.
“I can’t deny that,” I replied. “Just as you told me, it becomes really difficult after you get her into a tamable state.”
“Hm? You’re there already?”
“All slimes are female, after all. Male Temptation works on them just fine, so I didn’t have much trouble making her tamable.”
Indeed, there had been no problems on that front. However...
“But when I reach for her to form a contract... she cuts me.” I looked at the pieces of mithril on the floor and the countless shallow cuts on my hands.
“Among the Tamers who attempted to tame it was one who tried to do it while wearing mithril gauntlets,” said the shopkeeper. “He still got his hands cut off.” So, not even properly processed armor-tier mithril can withstand these attacks, huh? I thought.
“Armor made from Mythical metal... hihi’irokane... might protect against these cuts, though,” he added. “Should we get some?”
“No, thank you,” I shook my head. “I doubt my level’s high enough to equip such things. Also, I don’t think that’s the right answer here.” Relying on toughness and stats just didn’t seem like the right way to go about it. If it had been, the Tamers that’d come before me would’ve already done it just because they had greater stats and equipment. The correct method of taming Mithril Arms Slimes had nothing to do with such things.
“You seem to be stuck, though,” he said.
“So far, I’ve noticed two things,” I responded while pointing at the pot. “First, her alertness. Rather than attacking automatically, she carefully considers each and every single one of her cuts. Over the four hours of doing this, I’ve noticed that the distance at which she starts attacking has a deviation of a few centimeters, meaning that she’s not doing it with machine-like, automatic precision.”
I pointed at the mithril pieces on the floor. Though they’d been cut by the same slime, their thickness wasn’t consistent, which was proof of what I’d just said.
“I see. What’s the second thing, then?” asked the shopkeeper.
“She wants to be tamed,” I answered.
“Why do you think that?”
I showed him my open hands, which were covered in countless small cuts that the slime had given me. “All of these wounds are shallow.”
“Well, I can see that much.”
“Both the wire and my fingers entered her alertness zone. However, while the wire got cut apart, my fingers are still intact.”
“Oh!”
She’d severed the mithril wire with ease, yet my hands — which were far weaker — were relatively unharmed.
“They’re all little more than scratches, and the worst one among them is the one I got after carelessly pointing at her when I first saw the pot,” I said. “As in, the one from before she was in a tamable state.”
I raised the index finger of my left hand, and sure enough, the cut on it was the deepest one, if only by a few millimeters. Which was why I could infer that...
“She’s holding back against humans. And she’s been extra careful with those that have gotten her into a tamable state, reducing her attacks to nothing but warnings. It’s clear that she treats us differently than inorganic objects.”
“But the Tamers that came before you—”
“Yes, they had their hands completely cut off. I think the same would happen to me if I reached a little farther,” I said as I extended my hand towards the slime’s alertness radius.
Though her attacks put more small cuts on my fingers, I didn’t retract my hand. Naturally, she continued attacking. After confirming that all the wounds were shallow, I took my hand out of her radius.
“See?” I said. “When you consider how differently she treats the mithril wire and my hand, it’s clear that there’s more to this than just distance. She’s probably acting according to some simple rules.”
“So you think you’ll be able to tame her when you figure them out, eh?” asked the shop’s owner.
“Yes, but figuring them out might be troublesome. I need a clue, and...” I stopped talking before I could finish what I was saying.
The shopkeeper looked at me with a puzzled expression, but I couldn’t care about that. After all, something that I wanted to be oblivious of had entered the edge of my vision. Next to the pot, there was a small animal — a single mouse.
“Oh, a mouse,” said the shopkeeper. “Guess the barrier keeping them out got broken.”
The moment I saw it, the mind controlling my body went blank.
The mouse was so weak that it didn’t even count as a monster. There was a hole in one of the walls, which was probably where it had come from.
It noticed our presence and ran away, passing by the pot in the process.
All of that entered my vision, and I properly processed it. However, at the same time, my body reflexively screamed. “Mouse mouse mouse mouse mouse MOUUUUUSE!”
I entered a state of absolute panic. As my brain tried to understand the situation, my mind was overwhelmed by memories of a certain event. Training, an old mansion, broken floor, falling into a room with countless mic—
“MOOOUUUUUUUUUSSE!” Losing control of my body, I became even more panicked.
However, before that reached its peak and made me lose consciousness...
“It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”
...I was embraced by Babi.
“There there, Rook. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she said, comforting me and patting my back.
Strange as it was, that was enough for me to slowly regain control of my panicked mind and body. It was just like when my mother had done it to me.
After about five minutes, I had completely calmed down, and the panic was gone as if it was never there.
“Sorry you had to see that,” I apologized to the shopkeeper and Rubiella.
I knew that my behavior had been unsightly. Panicked as I was, my mind was still somewhat functional. However, I could almost feel a wave of other thoughts overwhelm me.
Sober as I was now, I concluded that this was how most so-called “traumas” were.
“No need to apologize,” said Rubiella.
“Everyone has things they can’t handle, after all,” added the shopkeeper. “But why do mice make you so... Oh, I won’t ask.”
He must have noticed how I reacted to the very mention of the creatures and — out of consideration — refrained from asking me for the reasons.
It was good that he did, for I wasn’t too sure how I was supposed to answer that. I’d been wanting to get rid of my phobia of rodents ever since I was a child, but it still showed no signs of going away.
All right, that’s enough about mice, I thought.
There was something far more important.
“I found out the slime’s rules, so I’ll tame her now,” I said. The thing I’d seen while panicking had given me the final clue I needed. All that was left was to test my theory.
“Really? What’s this, all of a sudden?” asked the shop’s owner.
“This incident wasn’t all bad,” I said. “Thanks to it, I figured out why I couldn’t tame h
er.”
“...You could do that in that state?”
Well, I’ve been taught to analyze my surroundings no matter how confused I may be, I thought.
Anyway, testing my theory required some preparation.
“Excuse me, keeper, but can I borrow an empty Jewel?” I asked.
“I don’t mind,” he said as he took one of the Jewels from the counter. It was the same type as the one I had, only completely empty.
As long as the owner allowed it, it was possible to transfer monsters from one Jewel to another by simply making them touch.
“All right, then...” Taking the empty Jewel in my left hand, I closed it in to the one on my right. And just like that, I transferred Marilyn and Audrey into the empty Jewel.
“KIEEE?!” (“BOSS?! YOU’RE SELLING US?! WHAT THE FUCK!”)
“MHOOO!” (“C-C-C-C-Calm down! I-I’m sure he has something in mind!”)
Oh... they seem really startled, I thought. Now I feel kinda bad. I should’ve warned them...
“The Tri-Horn Demi-Dragon is 2,400,000 lir, while the Crimson Roc Bird is 3,200,000,” said the shopkeeper.
“KIEEE!” (“Take that, bitch! I’m more expensive!”)
“MHOO!” (“Now’s not the time to be happy, you birdbrain! Also, the reason you’re more expensive is because they already have my kind here!”)
Does difference in price really mean all that much to them? Wait, that doesn’t matter right now, I thought.
“No, I’m not selling them. I just needed to momentarily move them. Babi, hold on to this for a second,” I said as I gave her the Jewel with Marilyn and Audrey inside.
“Okaaay.”
“All right, then,” I muttered as I began taking off my clothes.
I removed everything that counted as equipment.
“Hmm, that should be enough,” I said, clad in only a tank top and underwear, inner clothing that gave no bonuses to stats or anything. “I think I’m ready now.”
“Rook, what are you doing?” asked the shopkeeper, and I responded with only a smile, leaving the proper answer to the results of my theory.
While distancing my left hand — which had the Embryo crest on it — away from the slime, I extended my right — the one with the Jewel — towards her.
Unlike before, the way I reached for her had no hesitation. Soon enough, my right hand passed the edge of the danger zone without getting hit by a single warning attack.
I continued moving my hand further, into the area beyond which countless Tamers had theirs cut off. However, my hand went through without getting a single scratch on it, and I reached the edge of the pot.
As I heard the people behind me gasp, I placed the back of my hand on the top of the pot and waited for her.
“Come,” I said, not sure if she would understand me.
A few moments later, the Mithril Arms Slime crawled out and touched my palm.
It was hard to tell how long it had taken, but eventually, magic began flowing between us and the taming was complete.
“Your name is Liz... Liz the Mithril Arms Slime,” I smiled as I rubbed her shiny, silver body. “Let’s get along, Liz.”
In response, the Mithril Arms Slime, Liz, shook in a happy manner.
Thus, my theory was proven to be correct.
I turned around to face the store’s owner.
“I’ve tamed her,” I said.
“...How did you do that?”
“Exactly as you saw me do it. I momentarily moved Marilyn and Audrey to another Jewel and took off my equipment.”
“How does that connect to you becoming able to tame the slime?” he asked.
My explanation was probably a bit lacking, sure, but the truth was actually really simple.
“Liz... or, rather, Mithril Arms Slimes in general... are very cowardly,” I said while petting Liz, who was crawling all over my body. “Even if you get them into a tamable state, having them recognize you as worthy, they’re still afraid of other things.”
“Such as?”
“The other monsters in the right hand extended towards them.”
“Ah!”
Anyone who tamed and used monsters kept them in the right hand’s Jewel at all times, even while taming a new monster. Also, not a single Tamer wore a Jewel without any monsters inside. Those were the reasons why no Tamers before me had been able to tame Liz.
“Also, she first attacked my left hand,” I continued. “That was probably because she was afraid of the crest — the thing that channels the powers of Embryos. And the fact that she attacked mithril gauntlets and wire made it safe to assume that equipment scared her, as well. That’s why I tamed her after removing everything she was afraid of.”
Those seemingly-simple reasons were why I had removed my equipment and distanced my left hand away from her.
“Isn’t that just circumstantial evidence?” asked the shopkeeper.
“Yes. However, I became completely certain of it when I saw th-the mouse,” I answered. Merely using the word made me feel unpleasant, but I still continued the explanation. “That mouse was just a mouse — not even a monster. And it didn’t get attacked even when it was right next to the pot and passed by it while I lost myself.”
Though I’d been panicking, I’d clearly seen how the mouse had acted. Despite being so close to Liz, it hadn’t been attacked once. That was because the mouse wasn’t even a monster.
“So it came to me that I might be successful if I had nothing on me and didn’t scare her. After all, the wounds she gave me were small, making it seem like she was being considerate of me.”
Her attacks had been warning shots. But they hadn’t been directed at me; they’d been directed at the monsters in my right hand’s Jewel and the Embryo crest on my left.
“Did you consider what would’ve happened if your deduction was wrong?” asked the shopkeeper. “You could’ve been sliced apart, you know?”
“I had confidence,” I said before pausing for a moment. I added honestly, “Also... if I was wrong, it would’ve been fine for me to die.”
My father often told me words that he’d gotten from his own father: “When making deductions that might change other people’s lives, always bear responsibility for your words. Bet your life on them and do your best to never be mistaken.”
When other people were involved in your deductions, you had to make sure you had the resolve to carry that burden.
Suddenly, I noticed that the shop’s owner was looking at me with a shocked expression.
I guess that’s to be expected, considering what I just said, I thought.
“Oh, but I’m a Master, so I can’t really die here,” I said with jest as I finished my explanation.
“...” (“Are you okay?”) At that moment, Liz — who was still crawling all over me — worriedly asked me that while looking at the cuts on my hands.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Liz,” I replied. “The wounds are shallow, and your cuts were so clean that they don’t even hurt. I’m not mad at all.”
By default, Infinite Dendrogram had no pain, but I was confident that it wouldn’t have hurt even if there had been.
“Rook,” the shopkeeper addressed me. “You can talk to slimes?”
“I can understand them by looking,” I nodded. “Animals communicate more than just by words, after all.” In fact, I found animals to be easier to understand than people.
“Is that a skill?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head and momentarily fell silent. “It’s a technique that my parents taught me.”
After saying that, I took a moment to run my mind through those memories.
◇
After that, I bought Liz for 5,130,000 lir, paid by installments.
According to the shop’s owner, the Mithril Arms Slime taming method I’d discovered was worth more than 10,000,000 lir. Due to that, he’d wanted to give her to me for free, but that didn’t sit right with me, so I’d chosen to pay at least half of her original price.
My mom had always told me that “Taking too much free stuff is best left for stealing,” and it wasn’t like I wanted to steal from the shopkeeper, so I was satisfied with the outcome.
Also, instead of having her join the other monsters in the Jewel, I had Liz use her Camouflage skill — common among slimes — to turn into clothing for me to wear. The clothing’s appearance was still metallic, but there already was a piece of equipment known as “Mithril Coat,” so I didn’t really stand out too much. Also, when people with a low Identification skill level looked at her, they would see nothing but “Mithril Coat (Custom-Made).”
The only problem I had with this coat was the fact that Liz’s fear of the crest caused the left arm’s sleeve to be a bit shorter than the other, but that wasn’t a big deal. She also moved in an unnatural manner every once in a while, but most would simply assume that it was just the wind.
Anyway, we were now gathered outside Gideon’s north gate to see off Rubiella.
Apparently, while I had been busy taming Liz, Catherine had returned to the capital, and Rubiella was about to go after her.
“Thank you for your help, Rubiella,” I said.
“I am humbled to have you thank me, Master Rook. I, too, am thankful for your giving me an interesting story to tell Milady.”
“Speaking of Catherine, I really wish I could’ve thanked her before she left.” After all, it was thanks to her that I’d met Liz.
She really helps me out a lot, I thought.
“I will make sure to pass over your gratitude,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“Now, then. Master Rook, Babylon, Marilyn, Audrey, and Liz,” she said. “I hope we can meet again.”
“How will you go the capital? Dragon Carriage?” Babi asked, making Rubiella silently chuckle.
“This body of mine will be more than enough,” she said, and a second later, two large wings sprouted from her back.
As soon as I noticed that they were draconic, she flapped them and rose up to the clouds, where her appearance suddenly changed. She was now a large dragon emitting a crimson light that I could easily see from the surface.
Rubiella, the crimson dragon that could use Anthropomorphization, waved goodbye to us by spinning in the air and then flew off towards the capital, looking truly majestic in the process.