Chapter 253: Tense Atmosphere

Qiu Nuoya stared at it, wondering if there was something inside.

Then, a small slime suddenly poked its head out of Xiao Tao’s pocket.

"Huh? That little one..."

"Eh? Oh, yeah. This slime seems to like the inside of my pocket. It feels comfortable there, so it won’t come out."

Xiao Tao gently stroked the slime as he said that, and the little creature trembled all over, looking absolutely delighted.

"What’s its name?"

"Eh? Its name?"

"You haven’t given it one?"

"Um... But this slime belongs to you, doesn’t it?"

"Hmm... Does it?"

Qiu Nuoya supposed that might be true. This slime was one of the slimes that had split off from Mochi and had desperately tried to cool Xiao Tao down when he had a fever.

Since it was one of Mochi’s split forms, it could perhaps be considered Qiu Nuoya’s tamed monster as well. However, now that it had become completely separated from Mochi, Qiu Nuoya honestly was not sure whether he could still call it his tamed monster.

"My only tamed slime is technically Mochi. The ones Mochi absorbs and makes into its companions will listen to me whenever Mochi gives them the signal, but it’s not like I’ve individually made every single one of them my tamed monsters. So if that little one likes you, Xiao Tao, I think it would be fine for you to make it your tamed monster."

"Make this little one my tamed monster? How do I do that?"

"Give it a name. Once you do, the tamed monster contract will be complete."

Xiao Tao placed the slime that had been peeking out of his pocket onto his palm and stared at it intently. The slime sitting on Xiao Tao’s palm fidgeted slightly, looking a little restless.

"Then... Lumiel."

Wow, that was a pretty good name. He came up with it so easily.

Qiu Nuoya’s lack of naming sense was well established. Mochi was simply named after the fact that it was looked like a mochi, while Long had been named after a dragon. Both names had been painfully straightforward.

Xiao Tao actually has a good sense for names.

As Qiu Nuoya was thinking that, the slime on Xiao Tao’s palm began to glow softly.

After a while, the light faded.

[ My name! My name is Lumiel! Yay!! ]

The slime, which had not made a sound until that moment, suddenly spoke directly into their minds.

"Whoa! You can talk!?"

Xiao Tao hurriedly looked at the slime.

The delighted slime repeatedly stretched and contracted as it replied.

[ Because Taotao gave me a name! ]

Apparently now officially Xiao Tao’s tamed monster, Lumiel bounced around happily, leaped from Xiao Tao’s palm to his shoulder, and eventually settled comfortably on top of his head.

After Xiao Tao successfully made the slime his tamed monster, Qiu Nuoya suggested something he had been wanting to try for a while.

"Slime communication...? What’s that?"

Xiao Tao tilted his head at Qiu Nuoya’s words, so Qiu Nuoya explained that slimes who recognized one another as companions seemed to be able to communicate even when they were far apart.

"That little one has become your slime, Xiao Tao, but it was originally one of Mochi’s friends. I thought that might mean it could still communicate with Mochi. Hey, Mochi, what do you think?"

[ Hmm... Lumiel? ]

[ Yes, sir! ]

The slime perched on Xiao Tao’s head hopped down and landed right in front of Mochi.

[ Sense Sharing~ and then... ]

[ Should I relay what Senior Mochi says to Taotao? ]

"..."

Is Mochi actually Lumiel’s senior? And is it just Qiu Nuoya’s imagination, or does Lumiel speak more properly than Mochi, whose speech sounds so childish?

Well, they were both adorable, so it did not really matter.

After confirming something with each other, Mochi and Lumiel split up and bounced toward opposite ends of the room.

[ Hmm... ]

Mochi began making a strange humming sound at one end of the room. Then, from the other end, Lumiel cheerfully called out,

[ Senior Mochi says he’s hungry! ]

Oh! It looks like they really can communicate with each other even from a distance.

Qiu Nuoya walked over to Mochi and quietly whispered something to it, asking it to pass the message on to Lumiel.

At the opposite end of the room, Lumiel suddenly began bouncing excitedly.

[ Seriously!? ]

Qiu Nuoya continued whispering a few more words, and Lumiel bounced excitedly across the room before returning to Xiao Tao.

[ Nuoya says he has some delicious snacks! He said he’ll give me some later too!! ]

Lumiel happily relayed the message to Xiao Tao.

That proved Qiu Nuoya could send messages to Lumiel through Mochi. However, since they were only testing it within a room at close range, it was possible that the method would not work over longer distances. He would have to investigate just how far apart the slimes could be while still communicating.

Now, the next question was whether the reverse would work too.

"Xiao Tao, I’d like to try it the other way around. Could you whisper something to Lumiel?"

"Eh? Ah... Sure."

The first thing Xiao Tao communicated was, [ Thank you very much! ]

He then added, [ What do slimes eat? ]

Well, now that Xiao Tao had made the slime his tamed monster, it was only natural for him to wonder what he should feed it.

Slimes were indiscriminate eaters and would basically eat anything. They would even happily gobble up ordinary household garbage, making them extremely inexpensive companions to keep when it came to food.

After confirming that Lumiel could also relay messages to Mochi, Qiu Nuoya had one final message passed along.

[ Let’s go shopping together at the Tamer’s Guild sometime! ]

Qiu Nuoya then picked Mochi up and set it down beside Lumiel, who was bouncing around next to Xiao Tao.

"Well done, you two!"

He rewarded both slimes with a generous helping of snacks.

"I never realized slimes could be so useful..."

"That’s true. However, this trick only works because we can understand what slimes are saying. It’s a communication method that only we can use."