Anyway, bones would be bought by weight as well, but since not many slimes can use them right now, I guess I will be turning them into bone ash and using them as a fertilizer.
Of course, the all-important Murder Ant Exoskeletons would be quite cheap. Since they had quite a number of them, I decided to go and collect all of them myself. I ended up with two Magic bags worth of cleanly picked exoskeletons of Worker, Defender and Soldier Murder Ants. All of these would be crushed and used into alloys., unless I find another way to use them.
The Soldiers had protrusions on their front legs looking like bdes, that I could refine quite easily with Monstersmithing techniques, but the flesh on them is essential for binding them to the rest of the weapon.
The next morning, with most of the materials still in my Item Box, I boarded the carriage the Ducal family prepared and headed to the south-west of the town alongside Kalvig and Hugh.
In the Au city, which was mostly built from wood and dug up waste from the mines, there is a small part of the city walled up with stones and bricks. This part of town is known as the Bcksmith District and it gathers quite a number of rough looking men and surprisingly a lot of women too. Though, most of them are dwarfish and dwarven women, unless shaved every four hours, look like dwarven men. Even lipstick gets lost in their beards.
About eighty percent of the Bcksmith District's popution are dwarves with the remaining twenty being mostly other earth element loving races, such as Gnoomas, Molefolk or Deeplings.
"Well, I never thought I would see you here of all pces, Hugh," Kalvig started discussion as the carriage started moving from the shop, where Hugh boarded.
"Yes sir. I believe the st time we saw each other was when I renounced my inheritance of my father's title during the new year."
"I still don't know who was more surprised, your brother or the nobles."
"Well, with my father exploding in blind rage, 'surprise' was all that was left for the rest of the party," Hugh ughed softly.
"I was wondering why you wanted to see Hugh, Mr. Kalvig, but I never knew you know each other before," I interjected between the two men.
"Lord Kalvig was quite an excellent teacher way back when I was an intern with the Ministry of natural resources," Hugh expined.
"I remember you came to us because your father wanted to form ties with Reva Duchy, though. You also looked more like a zombie back then," Kalvig chuckled as he looked kindly at the man before him.
"Yes, that was before I met my darling wife," Hugh beamed like sunshine, which was in a stark contrast to his usual calm and composed self.
"You should calm your face, the man we are going to meet today is an Ancient that goes by the name of Arshel. He is quite eccentric, but a good man nevertheless. He is what we call a Specialist."
"If I remember correctly, that title refers to someone talented backed by a noble family, right?"
"Indeed. His special talent is in Bcksmithing and some say he forged an axe wielded by Martial Queen in her battle with Demon Lord of Sloth."
In stories, Demon Lords are often depicted as the final boss of a hero's journey, but in this world, they are just an evolution of Archdemons. And above them are beings like Demon Kings, Demon Emperors, Chaos Breeders and others. I was warned about them in the Monster Encyclopedia provided by the Gods when I came to this world.
Also, while Demon Lords are de facto upper A ranks, but when they get a title, like for example [of Sloth] Mother and Father defeated, their rank is considered middle to high S rank. Still though, Demon lords are completely unlike the monstrosities of SS Ranks, like Murder Ant Queen and Spider Skull Bear.
"He sounds amazing," Hugh sounded impressed.
"Well, for all he's worth, he says that he isn't that amazing, but he can forge weapons that even the Royal guards would love."
"Really? That would mean he can forge Royal css weapons, right?" Hugh calmed down and stroked his chin as he looked out of the carriage.
We were just passing through the gate to the Bcksmith District and the change was quite substantial. In the rest of the city, the buildings were basically glued together, but here, each house was separated by wn and stone walls. There were three tall buildings in total: Giant waterwheel, bringing the all important water to all the smithies, located upstream; Bcksmith guild, where you could purchase materials, get hooked up with potential apprentices and much more, located around middle of the district; stly a Water purification pnt downstream near walls with rest of the city. Here most of the grime from the city was collected and purified. Another interesting part about the Bcksmith district were the aqueducts lining the main streets and branching to smaller ones, leading to separate houses.
Even though it was still morning, we could hear hammers hitting iron both close and far away.
"Look, Arito. Along this main street leading towards the Bcksmith guild you can see all kinds of shops dealing with weapons and armor. Thanks to that, this is also called the Adventurer's Street, mainly because of the main buyers here," Kalvig looked out of the window, where a dwarfish woman with a beard just slightly shorter than a male dwarf's, was polishing a bde.
So, the competition is here, just not in the main town. Good to know…
As the carriage was making its way to the city center, it suddenly changed its trajectory and headed towards the river. When we came to a stop, we were standing before a two-story house with a workshop in the back. Kalvig took a lead out of the carriage with me right behind him and Hugh behind me. We could hear a hammer hitting something hard and when we finally got to the back, we even got to see the man doing the hammering in question.
He was a tall man with crew cut hair and blue eyes. His Ancient marks were reddish white, making them harder to spot, but they were definitely there. Additionally, he had the aura of someone who saw quite a lot in their life. Ancients can live for even a thousand years, maybe he is older than he looks?
"I'm not that old, you brat. This is just how my eyes look," the man said instead of a greeting.
"Good to see you Arshel, you look as awful as ever," Kalvig said in a light tone.
"Not everyone can live the life of a minister, though I guess you have your own share of problems with nobles and such. So why are you here? Because of that brat?"
"In a sense, yes. I want you to look at some metal this child, Arito, made," Kalvig smiled.
"Grrr…" Arshel grumbled and stood up. Looking around, his eyes fell on a metal rod, around fifty centimeters long and two centimeters thick. "Catch."
I caught the metal rod he threw at me. "Forge a bde from that. Use anything you want here."
"Are you sure?" Hugh asked.
"Shut it, Wet-head! If that kid made a metal, then he has to have some degree of knowledge of smithing. He better show me what he's worth or I ain't moving from the spot."
I did a quick appraisal of the iron and found out it was filled with impurities, making it only about eighty percent iron. This might be tough. The sheer number of impurities may make any bde forged from this weak and unusable.
"Just to make sure, I can use any technique I want, right?"
"Yeah, have it your way," Arshel smiled triumphantly.
"Alright, I will do it," whipping out an Alchemy Tablet from my Item box, I removed the impurities, and added some carbon I extracted from the mines as well as added some more pure iron powder. Once I was happy with the hardness, I went ahead and threw the iron into the forge. Taking out some papyrus Romi gave me, I started drawing a rough shape of a bde I would try to forge. Since the removal of the impurities left me with less amount of material, a sword would be impossible to forge, so I decided to forge a hunting knife instead.
"Huh?! What did he just…" Arshel got taken aback seeing my alchemy and quick work.
"I forgot to tell you, Arito happens to be an Alchemist," Kalvig gave Arshel a smile.
"Huh?!" Arshel's eyes opened with disbelief and a feeling he is being made fun of.
"I understand how you feel, but trust me, seeing is believing with this boy. He is quite out of ordinary, just like you."
"I got a feeling you just insulted me, but I'll let it slide…" Arshel grumbled as he watched me work.
As the steel was getting hotter, I picked a hammer that had good heft to it and cleaned the anvil. Picking thongs with my left hand, I took the steel out of the forge when it got light yellow and started hammering.
The steel was moving under my hands as it was getting colder. Once the color turned dark red, I returned it back to the fire and took out a bucket with water, checking its temperature. When you quench the bde, there is a chance the bde will crack. For that, the bde has to be wide enough and the water needs to be slightly hotter too. I could quench the bde in something else too, but oil is quite pricey so that one is out of question.
I continued moving the steel with the hammer and once I was satisfied, I quenched the bde.
"No cracks… it hardened quite well too…" I smiled and went to clean the bde with a belt grinder that was powered with a magic pedal on the ground. Oh, I should protect my face…
"
I continued grinding until I was satisfied with the look. I wouldn't be doing a handle right now, so I showed the bde to Arshel.
"Hmm… hmm…. Hm? Oh, I see… hmm… Alright, this is a good bde. You worked that piece of junk well."
"Wait, you gave him faulty material?!" Hugh blew up.
"Yeah. And you really went beyond my wildest imaginations. Good work, kid."
"I thought that would be the case. That iron would need to be still processed before it could be used."
"I give! Your alchemy is really something else. Show me your metal now," Arshel smiled and put his big rough hand on my shoulder.
"Right, right…
"Oh ho! I see, Magic Ant Steel? What interesting material! Alright, I will try forging something out of it now!"
"I guess we will take our leave now, once you are done with the bde, come to the inn we are staying at."
"Yeah, yeah. Oh! Kid, listen here, when you make more material like this one, come to me right away. When you do, I will give you some pointers for your own smithing!" Arshel waved us off and ran into the smithy and started working on the steels.
"Well, I told you he is eccentric. I guess you can call yourself his apprentice now."
"I… I'm not really sure I can. That bde I made was really not that impressive. I was satisfied with how it turned out for now, but I don't think it could be used much for hunting, maybe I should've gone with a kitchen knife instead."
"You worry about strange things, Arito. Arshel recognized your talent and even offered you tutoring. Just so you know, the only other people working for him are woodworkers, who make scabbards and handles. There are no other bcksmiths in his shop," Kalvig smiled at me, "Do you have any other pns today?"
"Well, there will be a Blue moon tomorrow, so I will retreat to the Abandoned mines this evening."
"Are you sure, manager? There might be others following you again," Hugh sounded worried.
"I will be fine, don't worry. I have my ways of protecting myself."
"Well, I would be happier if there would be someone protecting you. You could always buy a combatant sve, you know?"
"I don't really feel good about owning another person, though," I grumbled, as I was not on board with the idea.
"Well, just think about it as a possibility. Even some of our specialists were originally sves, you know?" Kalvig seemed strangely insistent on the topic. After one look at Hugh, we started staring at Kalvig, quite intensely. "Uh… well, you know… there will be a sve market opening up soon… so…"
"Urgh… Okay, I will at least take a look, okay? I'm not saying I will buy anyone, but I will take a look, alright?"
"Thanks…" Kalving smiled a little weakly.
When we got to the shop, it was already lunch time, so I helped out by getting everything in pce and took a list of sold items that came to be from Blue Moon Liquids.
"Master, are you here?" Nene called out to me as I was finishing taking inventory in the basement.
"Nene? Have you found some information? Please come down here."
"Of course," Nene came to the basement, dressed in light bck clothes and dark red hood.
"So, what did you find out?"
"The three men who were tailing you were associated with Dark Guild in this city, however the Dark guild was dismantled st year, so they are stragglers from that time. Also, it seems some thieves made a new guild, but they are not reted to the three men. The trio nowadays work for a shop dealing primarily in cheap alcohol. The shop seems to be in decline, so it is surprising they could hire them. It looks like the owner is backed by some sort of organization or individual, which gives him quite a swoon over the alcohol sales in this town. It looks like about eighty to ninety percent of all alcohol comes from his shop."
"What's his name?"
"Eelmid Allbarett of the Allbarett Booze and Snack company."
"Allbarett… the attacker we captured did say he was hired by All-something before he died. Can you look more into him? We might have to increase the protection for the shop too," I started thinking aloud.
"That may be the way we have to move forward. Should I increase the protection of the Orphanage as well?"
"Yes. Inform Romi and ask her to spread her bats through the city. It should increase the protection during the night. Don't forget to take some time off and rest, okay?"
"…Understood, master," Nene said with a small smile.
With the report from Nene, I decided to put everything in writing and mail it to the ducal family. Once I finished writing and mailing the letter and went to the orphanage.
"Master, I've heard from Nene about what is happening, once the sun goes down, I will spread all the bats, rats and Peabirds I control," Romi welcomed me in the doors with big sparkly eyes. If she had a tail, she would be wagging it right about now…
"I didn't know you took in some Peabirds."
"They are faster than Bats and for lesser vampires, they are quite resistant to sunlight."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you guys hate being in sunlight. How is your Sunlight weakness resistance skill doing?"
"I've recently reached level six."
"That gives you quite the broad range of movement, right?"
"Yes, with level six I should be able to walk all the way to Kassena forest right now."
"I see, that's great."
"Will you be joining us for dinner? Miss Bnche is already in the kitchen."
"In that case, I should be going to her side as well, to keep up the good work."
"Oh! Before you go, someone left us with a newborn today."
"Really? Well, we are an Orphanage, I thought this might happen one day. What happened to it?"
"I had one of the hired cook staff dies take care of it for now, because she is still ctating, but her son is already grown quite a bit, so we will need some other way to get milk."
"Alright, I will look for a cow or something with the summoners guild. Are finances doing okay?"
"Yes, we are well within the budget, thanks to you master. Now, let us go to the kitchen," Romi led me to the kitchen, where I was met with an angel.
Near a big pot was standing Bnche with her hair held in a ponytail and wearing a pink apron.
"Arito!" a giant smile beamed on her face, her charming smile blooming like a flower. "Um, Arito?"
"Don't mind me, I'm basking in your charms," I smiled happily.
"J-jeez, Arito! You're making me blush…" Bnche turned away with a small pout as her face turned pink.
"Woo–Hoo! Arito and Bnche are so sweet!" kids were ughing and smiling at us from the diner hall adjacent to the kitchen.
"No fair!" Misha tackled me from the side. I didn't notice her since she is so small.
"Hey there, Misha, have you been doing well?"
"I cast maagik!" Misha smiled at me, as Bnche sneaked up on me and hugged my other hand.
"Oh? You can cast magic? Aren't you a fast learner? What did you cast?"
"I made water!"
"Well, isn't that amazing? Great work Misha," I patted her head with my free hand, while getting my other one squeezed by Bnche.
Anyway, I helped Bnche and the hired dies to cook dinner for us and ate it with everyone.
***
The next morning, the effect of the Blue moon started to be felt already around midday. The Treants and other pnt monsters started moving even without any wind moving them. The slimes started to be unrest and were jumping around their containers.
"Let's get moving, Kobolds! We need those pots here pronto!" Yue called out to the kobolds going in line after her while carrying Pear tree in a pot as if it was but an oversized twig.
"Yes!"
The Kobolds moved the pots to their designated areas and I checked the apples, aka Appos the Appo treant grew.
"It seems that fruit bearing trees grow their produce much faster… maybe it's because they are monsters? Well, most of these apples are basically the same as regur apples…" I sniffed the apple before taking a bite, "…maybe they are a bit sweeter?"
Appo Treant Seed
While looking like a regur seed of an Appo, this is actually a monster in disguise. Once pnted in soil, the treant will grow in less than ten days. Safe to consume when roasted.
"Well, that's not surprising. But since they are safe to consume…" looking at the treant behind me, I smiled a little, "well, it will be better if this one grows into a splendid tree."
Plus, it can give me another test subject. Instead of pnting regur seeds During the Blue moon, I wonder what would happen if I pnted Treant seed instead.
"Aritooo! Will we bring all the medicine slimes?" Bnche called out to me from her spot near the cave entrance.
Hmm, let's see, Medicine slimes make Curifa, the ultimate antidote, so I guess I should stock up on it.
"Alright! Will be there right away!" I waved her back and collected more seeds from the treants and the other awakened monsters before making my way down.
"56, 57, 58… Arito, two Medicine Slimes are missing," Bnche just finished counting the Medicine slimes in the Alchemy Room.
"Missing? Oh, I think it’s the two that are about to evolve, they will most likely be in the Flower Garden."
"Huh? Isn't that where the bees are? They've been really aggressive for the st few days."
"Maybe it's because the queen is finally ying eggs of Soldier bees instead of just the worker bees… I'm gonna speak some sense into them," I patted Bnche's head and went down to the floor where the beehive was located. As it turns out, you can't make contracts with Soldier or Worker bees of any type of bee monster. Only tamable bee monster is the queen and thanks to her link with me, none of the bees even dared to nd near me.
Since the Medicine Slimes tend to be dark green, I tried looking for them, but they were nowhere to be found. The small hill upon which the beehive was id, was filled with grass and flowers of many different colors and species.
"It should be around here… huh?" Taming magic creates a bond between tamer and monster, so there is small awareness of the location of each other. Thanks to this, I could tell there were two slimes somewhere around here. As I was walking around the hill, I noticed two molds and ate flowers near them.
Healer Slime
Advanced species of slime evolved from Medicine slime who gained the ability to make healing salves. Roughly twenty centimeters in diameter. Medicine Production 9, Poison Resistance 10, Regenerate 10, Detect Poison 8, Restoration Salve 2, Stamina Salve 2
Supplement Slime
Advanced species of slime evolved from Medicine slime who ate many helpful herbs. Roughly twenty centimeters in diameter. Medicine Production 9, Poison Resistance 10, Regenerate 10, Detect Poison 8, Food Supplement production 2, Body Supplement production 2
"So, you two evolved, huh? Great work you guys, but there is a Blue moon coming, so I will need you to come with me now," Picking up the silverish and pinkish blobs I started walking towards the exit.
***
The night has come. The slimes were practically raging inside their containers as their Blue Moon Liquids were seeping out of them and pouring directly into the Space Magic expanded barrels.
"How do the Treants look?"
"They shed their leaves a couple of times and now we collect their fruits."
"Any weird changes to them?"
"None at all. It just seems that they produce more fruits than normal," Bnche shook her head.
"Alright. Let's get to awakening the regur trees now…" I picked up some Magifertilizer and started awakening the pnts. The trees started shaking and grew more robust. I quickly tamed the newly awakened monsters.
"They became bigger and it seems their bark, leaves and fruits are slightly bigger," Bnche noted in her notepad.
"They are not called Treants, but Elder Treants. It seems the Blue moon effect was that it made the monster higher rank. Let's pnt not awakened seeds into magifertilizer next." I moved to the other pot that was filled with a mix of Magifertilizer and soil.
Once I threw the seeds inside, they started to grow right away. All of them however grew in the same way as the Treants I awakened before the Blue Moon.
"No visible changes to the outside… Huh?! The fruits are blue!"
"Amazing… These new ones are called Blue Appo Treants, so the blue moon made them evolve in this special way… I guess they are simir to Miss Shimo from the church."
"Monsters that mutated under the blue moon… you did talk about them before, when you made a contract with Cie. Though I don't know how I feel about comparing people and monsters," Bnche smiled at the memory of just a month ago.
"Well, in my eyes, we are all living creatures. Fair, there are undead too, but there are those like Romi that aren't that much different from us. We should check on Cie today too, we wouldn't want her to feel alone, right?" I smiled at Bnche and continued checking on the monsters running around us with produce.
"Oh please! I spent enough time with her when feeding! You always py with her!" Bnche smiled back.
"It's interesting that the golems are not affected by the Blue moon though… Maybe it's because they are made with Necromancy?" I tried changing the discussion.
"We did see that rampaging Cy golem in the mountains, right?"
"That was quite something… it might be interesting to investigate the difference between Necromancy produced golems and natural appearing ones."
"Uuu, you are piling your pte again!" Bnche looked angrily at me, which made her that much cuter in my eyes.
"Right, that can wait," I gave but a weak response.
"Siiiiiigh… Let's get done with it so we can go to the slime liquids, those are always fun," Bnche, with a tired look, walked to the st free pots, checking on them.
"Okay, I'm on my way," I smiled at her and pnted the Appo Treant seeds. Taking a defensive stance between her and the pots, I got ready for the treants growth.
At that moment, a big tremor shook the entire valley. Fear entered our minds as the trees started to grow. They became taller and wider, until the pots could not hold them back anymore and cracked. The roots seeped out, digging into the ground below.
Blue Walking Elder Treant (Appo)
An Appo Elder Treant born under the blue moon, it is way more intelligent than other treants and capable of walking, albeit slowly.
"
"
As the small ball of fme flew to the Elder Treant which was ever so slowly making its way towards us, the tree got a few branches and leaves burned. Feeling the pain, the tree stopped dead in its tracks. Not even a leaf moved. The Kobolds, weapons in hands, Bnche with a Taxin coated arrow tugged in her bow were waiting for what it would do next, but nothing happened. Suddenly, the tree grew some appos and dropped them to our feet.
"Did it… give up?" Bnche rexed a little, but still kept her bow and arrow in her hand.
"
The tree swayed from side to side, extending one of its branches to me and dropping a slightly bigger blue appo.
Magic Appo
A blue Appo filled with enormous amounts of magic power. Eating this appo can restore enough magic power to make you able to use Grand css magic.
"Grand css magic?! I can't even use advanced css spells yet! This is really amazing stuff! If making this took a lot of your energy, make sure to rest properly! Do you want some fertilizer? We should also get you some better soil…" I started to talk to the tree, as if the attempted attack didn't happen. Next, I stored the appo in my Item Box and turned some stones into a giant pot. Since it would be hard to move it like that, I made some wheels under it for ease of movement. I will need some springs to make suspension, though…
"Uh, Arito? Do you see that?" Bnche called out to me worriedly.
Turning around, I noticed the Treant resting happily in its pot, which wouldn't be so weird, were it not for its two big roots hanging over the top of the pot, which the Treant was using as legs to propel itself. It strangely reminds me of the videos of turtles on skateboards…
"Haha, this is good! Who can say their pet tree can follow them around?"
"Aritooo…" Bnche grumbled as she gred at me with desperation.
"I-I know, don't worry, I will keep it under control. Let's get to the slimes now…" I smiled at her, gave her a head pat and looked over the valley that was filled with containers, each with a slime inside. One of the containers had the Celestial orb too, but I didn't know if it would produce anything. Ryuu, the Chilltail Dragon I hatched in the capital, was basking under the blue moon, its scales shining in the soft blue light. Since dragons grow from exposure to Magical energy, I'm not surprised he's enjoying the blue moon so much.
Since I had the Space Slime produce Warping paint every Blue moon without fail, I was somehow able to get every slime its own container for this blue moon night.
The closest slimes to us were the two newly evolved ones, Healer and Supplement slimes. Since I didn't know much about their regur liquids, this would be a big surprise. I grabbed a lever at the side of the container and slightly turned it, allowing the inside to pour out.
Panacea
The ultimate healing salve. Capable of healing the gravest of wounds, all status ailments and even curses. Fully regrows limbs within twenty-four hours after losing them.
"A panacea, eh? I'm not really surprised anymore, but healing lost limbs too? That's a bit too much."
"Lost limbs? Could it be used for Cosli or Saibert?" Bnche's eyes sparkled.
"Sadly, it only works within the first twenty-four hours after losing the limb."
"Oh, that's too bad," Bnche became genuinely sad about the fact, since her bond with Cosli was somewhat closer than with other adults. Though that may be because Cosli is just eighteen right now.
"Alright, time for the next liquid…"
Booster
Amplifies effects of all medicine, supplements and other magical liquids one hundred times.
"So, it boosts the effects, huh? That can be useful."
"All magical liquids? Would it work with other Slime liquids then? I wonder what would happen if it was combined with Corpse slime's Liquid Death," Bnche pondered, thinking about the liquid that once completely paralyzed her for the entire day.
"That thing can kill even with a single drop, good thing you only sniffed it back then. I would be happiest if I didn't need it anytime soon. Speaking of which, the Necromancer Slime is next…"
Uncremate
A white powdery substance stopping the possibility of the body turning into Undead. Can be used to turn undead back into corpses.
"This would be so helpful with that army the Death Knight raised…"
"Yeah…" The two of us shared a bitter smile as we continued with the next slime, the Sand Slime. Since this slime was even more slippery than others, I had to lock him in the container and seal the lid with glue.
Devisand
Bck sand-like substance with ferrofluid properties
"Hmm… This one will be one hard to find use for," getting results from the Appraisal, I started to worry about the overall usefulness of slimes.
"A Devisand? What does it mean it reacts to magnetism?"
I forgot that Appraisal is limited to the knowledge we possess. Bnche doesn't know ferrofluids, but does know of magnetism, because I talked about it with her before.
"It means it will react to iron and other magnetic metals… Let me show you,
"Oh wow! This is amazing!"
"I'm not sure how useful it will be, but maybe we will be able to sell this thing to nobles as an interesting article."
"Maybe it could be used to detect when people with swords approach?"
"Hmm, maybe. Though the range could be the biggest problem. Plus it could react to our own weapons. And what if the people use weapons from monster parts?" I sighed and poured the ferrofluid back into its container. Walking to the next container, I looked at the tag, telling me the next slime was Amber slime.
Gssia
This liquid hardens exponentially quickly, but when shatters, it explodes with the power of an Advanced level spell.
"So, a grenade, huh? This will be fun."
"What's a grenade?"
"A weapon. When you throw it, it explodes and the shrapnel kills your enemies. It isn't suited for hunting."
"I see. Will you be using it?"
"No. I don't want to make weapons specifically made to kill humans. Anti-monster weapons are the only kind I want to deal with."
"The use is on the owner, though," Bnche spoke with a realistic image in mind, and looked at the next tag, "The next one is the Liquor Slime, right?"
"Yeah, the one I'm most excited about," I smiled and used Appraisal on a dark liquid that poured out of the container.
Evershine Liquor
Dark colored liquor with shining particles, making it look like a night sky is captured inside it. After drinking it, your eyes shine like stars.
"Ooooh!"
"Yep, it’s a booze," Bnche was less excited than me, but I knew she liked the sweet Peench liqueur.
"It looks like a starry sky is trapped inside it. I'm sure Henry will love this one."
"What makes it shine though? Isn't it weird?"
Bnche has a point. I'm still stuck in my world's magic-equals-anything-goes logic.
"I'm not sure. You might experience a hangover even with high level Alcohol resistance skill, so let's put it aside for now."
"Yep! Let's go to the Foliage slime next!" Bnche's smile sparkled like a firecracker, as she led me to the next container. "What do you think it will be now? Leaves?"
"Foliage Slime loses leaves even without a blue moon, so it is possible that there will be some mixed in. I wonder what we will find though," I smiled at the cheerful Bnche as I pced my hand on the barrel which was capturing the material.
Lushwine Starter
An alcoholic solution that can be used for a great assortment of alcoholic drinks of the elves.
"It's booze again!!" Bnche let out a deep growl.
"Uh, I would say it's just a starter. Maybe we could give it to Mr. Hugh or Ms. Emma to make us Lushwine."
"Hmm…" Bnche looked at the liquid in the bowl in my hands with brows crooked by mixed emotions. "I… I think I could make some too, you know?"
"You can make Lushwine?"
"Yeah… I remember my mother making it for my sister's birthday…"
Seeing her pushing herself so hard, I put my free hand on top of her head, giving it a gentle rub, "If you want to make it, go for it. I'm always happy when I get to eat your food. It would be a premiere for a drink, if I remember correctly."
"Hm…" Bnche pushed against my hand, a smile creeping on her face, "Right. I will make you a drink you won't be able to forget."
As I was about to pull my hand off, Bnche's hands wrapped around me in a tight hug.
"Just give me a minute," she whispered into my shoulder.
"As many as you need," I whispered back, tightening my hug slightly. Whenever Bnche gets these fshbacks of her family, she always demands hugs from me, which I'm more than willing to provide. The moon continued on its journey through the sky, Bnche still hugging me. Well, I didn't really pn to do much work today except for checking the new liquids we would get from the slimes and Treants. I should give her more time.
About an hour ter, Bnche finally had her fill and we could continue our work. Though, her glowing, shiny smile would make one doubt if a hug was just a hug.
"This barrel is for… Fluff slime, huh? Those guys split so fast I had to order them to stop."
"And that's why we are drowning in the fluff they release because of it. At least we have enough to stuff the plushies and bedding. Oh, the Ogres requested more fluff for the plushie making, so we will have to give them some," Bnche listed in their papers.
"Well, since the slimes will be tired tomorrow I think we can get them to spit out some fluff in three days, just to py it safe."
Since out of my six ogres five are female and sole male is rather frail, I had them make the plushies for the shop. Elga, the boss of theirs, is quite capable with her hands. Were she not so overprotective of her little frail brother, she would be a beast on the battlefield. Though, the homely side of her suits her well too.
Anyway, back to the Fluff slime.
Cotto
Cotton-like material that is extremely heat resistant; easily dissolves in water, but once it dries, it becomes much harder, tougher and heavier.
"Hmm, I wonder if I could use this as padding in clothes for bcksmiths."
"It might be good for gloves in the kitchen too," Bnche added to my idea.
"Yeah. You're right. Good thinking, I'll be counting on you."
"I will take some of this stuff and try to make something tomorrow!" Bnche got fired up.
"Now I wonder what the Wooly slime will look like. Those two are simir, after all."
"Maybe it's something like super powerful threads of wool!"
"Yeah, maybe…" I walked to the next container, let some of the material fall on my bowl and appraised it.
Heatia
Liquid solution making things it's smeared on more heat resistant
"Huh, who would've thought. While the effect is simir to Cotto, this thing acts more like a paint. Maybe it has felt elements in it?"
"You mean like the vest you made me from the wolf fur? You called that feeling too, if I remember it right."
"Yeah, that was quite a pain to make. Just donning furs stitched together turned out to be a much easier thing to do."
"Well at least we used all that fur the wolves shed."
"Thanks for that," I smiled at her and continued with the next two slimes, the Water and Earth attribute slimes.
Wave Paint
Allows for easier creation (enchanting) of magic items with Water Magic spells
Muddy Paint
Allows for easier creation (enchanting) of magic items with Earth Magic spells
"We really got the paints!" Bnche cheered with a bright smile.
"We won't have to worry about running out of water, even if we were low on Magic power now. Maybe I could enchant the watering cans the Kobolds use so they don't need to always go to the well."
"What kind of thing can we use the Muddy paint for though? Salt celr?"
"That could definitely save up some space. Maybe we could enchant a set of wheels with Grind or Drill spells?"
Enchanting can be done with two methods. Hot and Cold. Hot method of enchanting consists of crushing magic crystal into fine powder, mixing it with Magic Stone powder, heating it up until the powder turns into a paste and dipping the item inside it. While it is still hot, you need to use the spell you want on the item. This process is extremely dangerous and only while the paste is covering the item, is the enchant usable. This method is usually used for metals and is extremely unsuitable with leather and other burnable material.
Cold method needs a person who can use Enchantment magic and the desired spell. While this method is safer and more commonly used, the item becomes incredibly brittle and gets destroyed after a set number of uses.
Now enters the method using paints from the slimes. All you need to do is smear the paint over an item and use the desired spell. You don't have a set limit of uses, enchanting is safe and usable for all materials. Also, enchanting a single item twice is possible. All my experiments on this are just with Space magic, but I can say that I could re-enchant a magic bag by using the same spell on it.
"I wonder though, do you think that if we mixed the paints, we could make a paint for compound spells?"
??? Is Bnche a genius? I didn't even think of that!
"It's definitely worth a try. Good thing you thought of that."
"Uh, really?"
"Yeah. It didn't even cross my mind that we could try it! What do you say to experiment with it for a little while and then head to bed?"
"Are you sure? There are still some slime liquids we didn't check. And the Celestial Orb too."
"Don't worry about it. The barrier around the valley is standing strong and if anything tries to enter, I will know right away."
***
"Damn, you don't look well, Arito. You too Bnche, what were you doing all night?" Lena basically went and scolded us the moment she saw us in the doors.
"Well, st night was the blue moon and everything…" Bnche dropped on the sofa, closing her eyes before whispering, "…why couldn't I stay quiet…"
"Wh-what happened?" Lena looked confusedly at me.
"Well, we got new paints for enchanting. Since they are for Water and Earth elements, Bnche came up with an idea to mix the paints for making compound spell enchanting."
"It didn't work?"
"Oh, it definitely did! It worked too much I'd even say!" Bnche bit down her quivering lips.
"Well, you know how you need more magic power to activate compound spells?"
"Yes?" Lena turned to me with creaking motion to her neck.
"Turns out that while enchanting you should use less."
"Oh gods…"
"Yeah, I've accidentally turned my experiment room into a pool of mud. We've been cleaning that up till morning… Anyway, could you give this to your father? I will go take a nap," dragging my feet out of the room. I left behind a gss jar with bck damp soil-like material and a stack of papers.
*** ※Lena's POV
When Arito left the room and Bnche followed shortly after him, I examined the jar he left behind before moving to the stack of papers.
"This looks like… report on the slimes? No, there are the Treants too, so I guess this is all about all his experiments from yesterday? When did he get the time to write this down? Wait, was it Bnche who wrote it?"
The problem with the two of them was that their handwriting was too simir and they used simir phrases and wording, which didn't help me at all. Even their hand movement when speaking is simir…
"Haaah, I know Bnche wants to be as helpful to Arito as she possibly can, but she shouldn't copy him one to one…"
Taking the two things Arito left behind, I walked out of my room and went to the breakroom we were using for our stay.
"Good morning, young dy, is there anything I can help you with?" Edgar asked me the moment he saw me walking out of my room.
"I have these things to deliver to my father from Arito. He seemed really tired, so he is resting in his room now."
"Shall I inform your esteemed grandfather?"
"Yes, thank you," I smiled at Edgar and entered the breakroom.
Walking in the room, I got to see both Father and Mother sifting through a bunch of papers, Raven separating envelopes by rank and pce they came from.
"Mother, Father, Arito have returned and brought something from yesterday."
"Oh, is that so? Well tell us what he said," Father straightened his back and smiled weakly.
"Yes, tell us, sweetheart," Mother smiled just as weakly as Father did.
"You seem to be in need of a break, are the papers reted to our political duties?"
"In a sense, yes. There are some nobles asking us for a loan and whatnot… There are some we have to listen to, but until then we still have some time. There are also regional chiefs who are submitting reports on nds they care for, for us."
"Since we are a retively small duchy, there aren't that many, but the nobles passing through our nds are quite the hassle this time of year for them and for us too. The princess of Amoeba Principality has her servants travel to this city on basically a weekly basis now," Mother added to Fathers grumbles and sipped her tea.
"Ah, that's because of MonsterWork’s unique items, right?"
"You guessed correctly, midy. I must say that sir Arito's merchant sense is incredibly sharp, using the brief moments he got to spend with our prince Andreas and dy Mushrooza to showcase his wares," Raven spoke up praises of Arito as he brought a newly brewed tea for me. It seemed that the choice my family started to embrace was the blend of tea with coffee-like taste Arito gave us way back in his home in Kassana Forest. Who would've thought we already knew each other for two months. Somehow, it feels like eternity has already passed.
"Actually, the one who advertised to the princess the most was Bnche. Though Arito looked extremely proud of her back then," I smiled at the memory and inhaled the smell of the tea. Yeah. This is really amazing. I know there is coffee somewhere in the world here, but finding it will prove difficult.
"Bnche did? Color me impressed. She always seems so reserved around people that aren't Arito," Mother took a big gulp of her tea, sweetened with milk.
"From what I heard from Arito, she went through quite a traumatic experience in the vilge she was born in and got mistreated by bandits right after, which made her so dependent on Arito."
"I see, he is her knight on white unicorn…" Father nodded and eyed the items I brought.
"I guess we should talk about this, too. This is a report on Pnt monsters who awakened this Blue moon with Magifertilizer, that came from slimes during the previous Blue moon."
"A fertilizer that creates monsters, huh? This could help Macedia with their recent Treant extinction. However, this report on fruits… I never thought that the fruit trees could become Treants."
"For the longest time I thought it was Dryads who caused the birth of Treants, but this is definitely going to revolutionize all monster theories. Is this the Magifertilizer?" Mother reached out for the gss with bck soil-like substance.
"No. According to my Appraisal, this is called Bck Fertilizer. It can be used to purify nd from corruption of undead and other evil monsters."
"Purify the nd?!" Father basically jumped up after hearing that.
It's understandable. On our nd to the east border is a big corrupted nd called Howling Barony. It used to be ruled by humans until some three hundred years ago, when the baron of the time executed a renowned hero on baseless accusation. The hero became an undead monster, destroyed the barony and started to rule it as a king. The church and king of the time tried to recim it, but failed several times.
"Hey there, I see I'm te to the party," Grandfather came to the room with a big smile and looked at the items we had spread before us. "What do we have here? A Bck Fertilizer? It looks useful."
"We need to protect Arito and Bnche as much as we can," Father said with an almost gut-deep voice.
"Where did that come from, Father?" I tilted my head quizzically.
"Ah, you don't know, but Lady Shimo has quite an attitude towards undead."
"It's better to say that she hates them with all her might. If she finds out about the Bck Fertilizer, there is a chance she will go and procim Arito to be a Saint, just to make sure she can have as much of it as she possibly can."
"That's… somehow I can't even imagine him acting like a Saint…"
"Indeed. Plus, Arito is quite curious on his own. I watched him practice Force magic on his own a couple of days back and his bcksmithing too… He somehow reminds me of some of our Specialists, a Born Researcher, so to speak. He is really curious child," Kalvig added with a soft smile before taking out a dagger whose bde shined with bck, red and orange colors in lines and dots.
"What is that?" Henry looked curiously at the dagger.
"A bde Arito made. We received it a few minutes ago with a letter for Arito from Arshel."
"So, he really gave him his stamp of approval, huh?"
"For a moody old man, he can be surprisingly eccentric."
"Um, who is Arshel?" I asked, since all I could piece together was that he was a bcksmith.
"He is our Specialist for weapons and armor. All gear we and our bodyguards use is made by him, your rapier is as well. Actually, we made a request with him due to the recent unrest."
"I see. And he approves of Arito?"
"Well, he did tell him to come see him from time to time to get lectures on bcksmithing," Grandfather said as he looked over papers we already went through.
"I guess we will have a lot of work. I will make sure Arito understands, I wouldn't want my adventurer party to be weighed down by church officials."
"How is your training going, Lena?"
"Good! My Arcane Swordsmanship skill leveled up yesterday."
"Since your offensive spells have little power compared to regur mages, try making this skill level up as much as you can," Mother patted my head and I answered her with a confident "Right!"