Chapter 38: Mochi’s Secret

A man with the mind of an adult pursuing a young child was absolutely unacceptable.

His own sense of morality would never allow it.

Even thinking about dating someone in their early twenties made him feel guilty.

A child was completely out of the question.

Qiu Nuoya was not a lolicon!

Absolutely not!

He repeated it twice because it was important.

So, while he was interested in romance, Qiu Nuoya decided to put that aside until he grew older.

For now, he would focus on building a stable life.

The cooking he had started for extra spending money had been a little difficult at first, but recently he had become quite skilled.

Bringing barbecue sauce and ginger pork into a world where meat was basically limited to grilled meat with only salt as seasoning had been a huge success.

Finding ingredients like miso and soy sauce had been difficult, but fortunately, they did exist in this world.

If people did not know how to use something, it would never become widely distributed.

However, once the adventurers tasted those flavors, fermented soybean paste based and soy sauce based dishes completely captured their appetites.

Since the original supply of these seasonings was limited, Qiu Nuoya was a little worried about whether he would be able to secure enough in the future.

But for now, his new recipes had become extremely popular among the adventurers.

After earning a little spending money by cooking for everyone once again, Qiu Nuoya was in an excellent mood.

He dropped another small copper coin into the slime shaped piggy bank he had bought at the general store.

Clink.

The piggy bank felt a little heavier than before and that made him smile.

He then arefully placed it back into the storage space beneath his bed.

"Is there something you want to buy with all that money, Nuoya?" Igor asked.

"I’m saving up to buy a staff someday."

For now, Viktor had told him that he did not need a staff yet.

Even so, Qiu Nuoya wanted one eventually.

There were all kinds of staffs, ranging from inexpensive and plain ones with no special enchantments to incredibly expensive models imbued with magical effects.

The ones Qiu Nuoya wanted were the enchanted kind.

Some enhanced elemental magic.

Others amplified magical power.

Still others granted status bonuses.

Every one of them seemed useful.

Unfortunately, they were all far beyond what he could currently afford.

That was why he was diligently saving his money little by little.

"You’re pretty practical, Nuoya."

"Haha. Am I?"

Qiu Nuoya smiled before turning toward the slime that had been happily bouncing around the room.

"Mochi, it’s almost bedtime. Come here."

As if responding to his call, the little slime bounced straight back into his arms.

"That slime is unbelievably attached to you," Igor said with a chuckle. "How did you manage that?"

"I honestly don’t know. I suddenly heard a voice in my head asking me to give it a name. After I named it, this happened."

[ That’s not right, Nuoya. I wanted to go with you from the very beginning! Everyone else just kept getting in the way. ]

"Hm? Really?"

Mochi trembled as if pouting.

[ That’s right! I waited every day for you to come, Nuoya! But you couldn’t hear my voice, so I kept thinking about what to do. Then we all decided that we’d go with you together. The others kept getting in the way because they all wanted to go with you too! ]

"All of you?"

[ Yep! All of us together! ]

As soon as Mochi said that, its jelly like body began swelling and wriggling.

"Wait... What is happening?!"

[ Lots of us! Nobody gets lonely! ]

It was true.

Back then, Mochi had grown larger by colliding with and absorbing the other slimes.

Qiu Nuoya had wondered what was happening at the time.

So this was the answer.

All of the slimes had merged together and come with him as a single slime named Mochi.

"Wait, wait! This isn’t my room alone, so don’t split apart!"

[ Really? ]

[ Okay! ]

Several little voices answered him from different directions.

Qiu Nuoya had thought he had made a single slime his familiar.

Apparently, he had actually taken in dozens of them.

That was quite a surprise.

The slimes merged together once more, returning to their usual single form as they settled in front of him.

"Hey, Nuoya. What was that just now?" Igor asked, looking back and forth between Qiu Nuoya and the slime with a stunned expression. "Is that some kind of slime ability?"

"Um... It looks like my slime wasn’t actually just one slime."

"Not just one?"

[ You see, when we’re all separated, we’re just ordinary slimes. But when it’s only me, I’m a Big Slime! ]

"A Big Slime?"

[ Someday I’ll become a Huge Slime, so just wait and see! ]

Qiu Nuoya blinked his eyes in confusion.

What exactly is this little one talking about?

"Um, Igor, what’s a Big Slime? And what’s a Huge Slime?"

"Huh?" Igor scratched his cheek. "Those are higher evolved species of slimes. You won’t find them anywhere nearby like this, but I’ve heard they occasionally appear deep in remote mountains and forests. They’re not particularly dangerous monsters, but their defense is ridiculously high. Even so, they’re still just slimes, so there’s barely any profit in hunting them. Most adventurers simply ignore them if they happen to run into one."

"My little ones are saying they’ll become a Huge Slime someday. They also say they’re already a Big Slime."

"At that size?"

Igor stared at the tiny slime in disbelief.

Mochi really was quite small.

Compared to the other slimes, the one with the slightly greenish tint was even smaller.

Qiu Nuoya had assumed it was simply a young slime. Then again, perhaps size had nothing to do with age for slimes.

Come to think of it, slimes survived as long as their core remained intact, even if large portions of their bodies were destroyed.

Whenever they lost part of their bodies, they became noticeably smaller.