Chapter 59

Good morning.

Today's weather is rainy.

It doesn't really affect me much since I'm always flying during practice, but it's a bit difficult to walk in this weather.

After changing clothes and having breakfast in the cafeteria, I got on the carriage and headed to the grassland.

We set off in the rain, which made visibility poor.

Occasionally, everyone would lose their balance, slipping on the grass.

I'm not sure if it's because of the rain, but there are fewer beast-type monsters and a lot more slimes.

Not only green slimes, but blue slimes have also appeared.

The blue slimes use water magic to shoot water bullets.

The power is weak enough to be blocked by a barrier, but it's still a surprise, so I wish they would stop.

Well, I'll just instantly kill them in retaliation!

By lunchtime, I had hunted about 30 slimes and set up a barrier to avoid the rain for lunch.

The usual warm portable food was especially welcome in the cold rain.

Yugram must have practiced, as he tried to warm up his own portion, but it either became soggy from too much hot water or inexplicably hardened.

He ate it with a very bitter expression, as a form of reflection.

While resting under the barrier, a slime entered the barrier.

The barrier is open at the bottom like an umbrella, so it's not surprising that it could enter, but it's rare for a slime to approach on its own.

Most slimes attack when something moves within a meter, but they rarely attack on their own unless they are moving.

The slime that entered the barrier now is just trembling and has no black mist.

At first, everyone was cautious of the strange slime, but as it only trembled and didn't attack, they were just confused.

It was cute and harmless, so they hesitated to attack and could only stare silently.

What about me? Of course, I approached! I set up a strong barrier just in case and squatted in front of the milky white slime I had never seen before, poking it with my fingertips.

The slime also extended its tentacles and poked my knee area, which was covered by the barrier.

I got excited and removed the barrier, petting it with both hands, but it didn't attack. Sora also got interested and tried a light cat punch, but the slime just gently deflected it with its tentacles, not really attacking, just playing around.

Seeing this, Yugram, who loves cute things, couldn't resist joining in.

We played for a while, but it was time to leave.

Reluctantly, we had to go, so we removed the umbrella barrier and started walking, and the slime followed us, bouncing along behind us.

Even when we walked quickly, it tried hard to keep up, so Yugram couldn't resist picking it up.

But the slime, held by Yugram, stretched out its tentacles as if reaching for me.

When I grabbed the tentacles, it slithered along them and moved to me.

Yugram was surprised when the slime suddenly disappeared from his arms.

I almost lost my balance from the sudden weight, but Arlshein caught me.

The slime was shaking in my arms.

"You've been adopted, huh~"

When Digray said this, an awkward silence fell, and Sora started meowing to the slime, which suddenly glowed and shrank.

It was originally basketball-sized but is now ping-pong ball-sized.

"Did you tell it that if it gets smaller, you'll take it with you, Sora-chan~?"

"It seems so."

"What does a slime eat?"

"Basically, they eat anything, but this one doesn't seem like a regular slime, so I'm not sure~"

"Since it's attached to you, Keita-sama, maybe it's the same as Sora-chan?"

When Yugram said this, I made a magic orb and gave it to the slime, which happily bounced and absorbed the magic orb.

"......It seems to like it."

We decided to keep it.

Somehow, we have a new pet.

Yugram is looking at it enviously, but it's not my fault.

Since the slime doesn't mind being touched, I gave it to Yugram, and it returned to its original size, happily being petted by Yugram.

We continued to progress, defeating monsters as we did yesterday, and the slime, now the size of a baseball, stayed in Yugram's chest pocket, extending its tentacles to one-shot green and blue slimes, causing everyone to be stunned, but we arrived at the base without any problems.

Most of the groups were already at the base, and there were many injured, but none were seriously injured enough for me to help, so I ignored them.

When we lined up for evaluation, the deputy guild master, who was there yesterday, was waiting with gleaming eyes, which was a bit scary.

The green and blue slimes I defeated were killed by only piercing their cores, leaving the liquid inside, so I brought them as they were. The liquid inside the slimes is apparently a valuable ingredient for medicine, and the deputy guild master was overjoyed, almost crying! It was quite scary.

The number of prey, over 50 slimes alone, made everyone around us buzz.

Just as the deputy guild master, who looked like he was about to dance, finished evaluating us, the last group arrived.

It was the group with the cheerful guy, and all three of them were carrying a large number of slime skins, even on their backs and necks.

The young ladies looked disgusted, but they ignored it and went to the deputy guild master.

The deputy guild master was happy with the large number of slime materials but not as ecstatic as before since they were only skins.

With everyone gathered, we returned to the academy.

We were on the carriage, which was shaking, but just before we left the grassland, the carriage stopped suddenly.

I was thrown by the sudden jolt but avoided hitting anything by flying.

When I went outside, I saw several dirty men, and someone shouted, "They're bandits!"

There are bandits.

Looking at them, they indeed had weapons with chipped blades, but none of them looked particularly strong.

The biggest and most imposing one, a bearded man at the back, shouted in a raspy voice,

"If you value your lives, drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads! We'll spare your lives if you cooperate, so don't resist!"

The young ladies looked at the dirty men with disgust.

Naturally, I immediately set up a barrier around the carriage that was visible only from the inside.

Seeing that we weren't going to drop our weapons, a few impatient men attacked nearby students but were deflected by the barrier and fell on their butts.

The young ladies giggled at this, and the big bearded man pushed through and attacked, but he was also deflected and fell backward.

Not understanding what was happening, they attacked several times but finally realized the barrier and started pounding on it.

It's not going to break just by hitting it, I thought, and Yugram cast a wide-area spell.

The men fell one by one.

It seemed he used a paralysis spell, as they were still conscious.

When all the men were down and safety was secured, a teacher and several adventurers came from the last carriage.

Seeing the paralyzed men, one of the adventurers said,

"You attacked without knowing who you were dealing with? This is a carriage for academy trainees. You had no chance of winning."

Attacking a carriage of academy trainees is known to be a foolish act in this area. In the past, all attacks have been repelled, and even if it was an attempt, the punishment was much harsher than usual because the carriages often carried the children of high-ranking nobles.

Because of this, the adventurer looked at the bandits with a sympathetic or pitying gaze.

The bearded man, who seemed to be the leader, turned pale when he heard "trainees."

The bandits were tied up and dragged away by the adventurers.

Without much thought, we got back on the carriage and headed to the academy.

In the carriage, we were praised and thanked.

We arrived at the academy a little later than scheduled.

The teacher will explain the situation, so we went to our rooms to change as usual.

Shel laughed at the new pet slime but didn't say much else.

The cafeteria was much less crowded without the second and third-year students.

The two-timing girl hadn't arrived yet, so it was very peaceful, and we could eat slowly!