The next day, I headed to the Adventurer Guild on my own. I had my slimes with me, of course, but as far as humans went, I was flying solo.
At breakfast, the members of the ducal house had informed me that they needed to visit the government office to meet with the magistrate today. The Duchess told me I was welcome to stay at the inn if I didn't feel like wandering the streets by myself, but since I’d finally registered with the guild, I decided to take on my very first request.
Should I start with something safe like herb gathering?
I readjusted my specialized pack-frame—the one with the basket for my slimes that I’d used back in the forest—and scanned the G-Rank bulletin board. It was actually quite interesting; besides herb gathering, there were plenty of varied requests like cleaning or helping people move.
At first, I considered herb gathering, but apparently, you could just bring those in whenever you happened to have them. I decided I could just pick some up on the way back from another job later. With that in mind, I looked for something else. Two request forms pinned prominently in the middle of the board caught my eye.
One was for cleaning a house, and the other was for cleaning the town’s communal toilets. I wasn't so sure about the house, but I figured I could manage the communal toilets using my Scavenger Slimes and the magic I’d developed. I decided to head to the reception desk for more details.
"Excuse me, I have a few questions."
"Welcome! What can I help you with?" the receptionist asked.
"Could you tell me more about these two requests?"
"Let’s see... Ah, those two. They've been up there for quite a while. On paper, they’re just simple cleaning jobs, but no one wants to touch them because they’re so foul and filthy. Then there’s the sheer scale of the work..."
"Are they that big?"
"Extremely. For the house, the requester lives right next to a garbage dump. They knew it was unpleasant, but the place was cheap, so they bought it anyway, thinking they could just deal with it. But a few months later, the basement wall separating the house from the dump collapsed. All that trash flowed right into the basement. Now the whole house reeks, and they’re desperate. Even if you clean it, more trash just spills in unless the wall is fixed—but you can't fix the wall until the trash is gone. It’s a total mess.
As for the communal toilets, the government used to hire people from the slums, but it seems there was some trouble with the payments. The slum dwellers essentially went on strike. No one has emptied the tanks in three months. We’re getting flooded with complaints about the stench, but we’ve reached the limit of what we can do to suppress the smell..."
That sounded awful. Actually, "awful" was an understatement.
"Beyond the smell, I’d be worried about a plague breaking out... in both cases."
"Oh, you’re quite well-informed! That’s impressive. You’re exactly right. They say 'disease-demons' nest in filth and that plagues spread like wildfire in those conditions. That’s why we’re so eager to get it done, but nobody will take the job."
"What are the specific dimensions of the areas?" I asked.
"The house has a basement of about two hundred square meters. As for the communal toilets, there are thirty collection tanks, each seven meters wide and two kilometers long. The toilet requests are handled one tank at a time."
"And the contents of the trash? I can guess for the toilets, but for the house?"
"Mostly household food waste and some scrap wood."
In that case, the Scavenger Slimes could eat it all.
"I see. I’ll take the request for the house, then."
"Wait, really?! You’ll take it?"
"Yes. I have a certain type of magic that's very convenient for cleaning. It requires a lot of mana, so there aren't many users, but I can manage."
"Well, alright! Hand over your Guild Card, then. There’s no deadline, but keep in mind that if you abandon the job halfway through, you’ll have to pay a fine."
"Understood."
I wasn't sure if she was just a hard worker or if she was just that desperate to find anyone to do it, but she processed the paperwork with incredible speed. I took back my card and headed for the requester’s home.
The house was located in the eastern district of the Town of Gimul, in an area filled with more affordable housing. Most of the surrounding buildings were old, and the target house was no exception—a run-down brick structure.
I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. Still nothing. Maybe they were out? I knocked one more time, calling out as I did.
"Excuse me! I’ve come from the Adventurer Guild regarding the cleaning request!"
The moment I shouted, I heard the sound of frantic running and the creaking of floorboards. The door flew open.
"Is it true? You really came to clean-nya!?"
Standing there was a Cat-kin woman with cat ears atop her head and a tail swishing behind her. I’d read about them and seen a few at the guild, but this was my first actual interaction with a Beast-kin. I felt a surge of excitement—but unfortunately, that first contact was accompanied by the staggering stench of rotting garbage. Still, this was a professional business transaction. Drawing on my past life as a Japanese salaryman, I didn't let my smile waver for a second.
"Yes. I am Ryoma Takebayashi, dispatched by the Adventurer Guild. Are you the requester?"
"That’s right-nya! You really came-nya! I’d almost given up hope-nya!"
"In that case, could you please confirm the request form?"
"Yes! Yes, that’s it! I’m the requester, Miya-nya! Thank you so much for coming-nya!"
"Please, save your thanks until after the job is finished."
"...Ugh, waaaaaah!"
She burst into tears.
I’d tried to handle it as professionally as possible, but Miya started sobbing after checking the form. I panicked. What was I supposed to do?
"Wait, please! Calm down, okay?"
"I’m sorry-nya... I’m just so happy... Every adventurer who came before looked so disgusted the moment they arrived. They just complained and grumbled... and they all quit halfway through-nya. Some of them couldn't even stand the smell at the front door and just turned around and left... You’re the first person who’s actually shown up with any motivation-nya..."
Seriously, those other adventurers should have just sucked it up. I could understand if it was a biohazard, but leaving at the front door? That was pathetic.
"I’d like to get started immediately. The work is in the basement, correct?"
"That’s right-nya. But how do you plan to handle it-nya?"
"I heard the trash is mostly food waste and scrap wood. I happen to have a very convenient spell for that."
"Really-nya?"
"Yes. It’s a spell with high mana consumption, so not many people use it, but it exists. Plus, I have my Tamed Monsters."
"You’re a Tamer-nya? Well, as long as it gets clean, I don't care how you do it-nya. Please, get to it-nya!"
"Certainly. Just to be safe, is there anything in the basement you need to keep?"
"Nothing-nya. I wasn't even using the basement for storage-nya. Even if there were, I’d just throw away anything that’s been buried in that garbage-nya."
Fair enough. Unless it was a precious heirloom, most people wouldn't want anything that had been marinating in rotting food for months. That made things easier for me.
"Then this should be over quickly. I’ll dispose of everything in the basement."
"Please do-nya!"
"I’ll begin now. Where is the entrance?"
"This way-nya."
Miya led me to a set of stairs. At the bottom was a door. When I opened it, I was greeted by a mountain of trash swarming with flies.
I closed the door immediately. I pulled my Huge Scavenger Slime out of its pack, sent it into the room, and closed the door again before mentally commanding it to divide. I could sense the massive swarm of slimes filling the room nearly to the ceiling. They emitted a faint scent to lure the flies, which were then promptly devoured. Apparently, flies were a delicacy to Scavenger Slimes.
From there, the task was simply waiting for them to finish eating. Since it would look like I was just standing around doing nothing, I activated a Concealment Barrier to hide myself.
About twenty minutes later, I felt the slimes reach the basement floor. It was time for me to step in.
The air was better than before, but it still smelled pretty bad. And the situation was exactly as the guild had described; more trash was spilling in through a large hole in the wall. The house sat at the base of a slope with the dump right above it, essentially acting as a retaining wall for the town's garbage. Who on earth built a house here? The ground behind the wall looked unstable, likely because it had been excavated to bury trash. Still, if I let the slimes keep eating until the dump ran dry, the pressure would drop.
"Miya."
"Ah... What is it-nya?"
"The source of the trash is to the left of the house, right?"
"The dump is that way-nya."
"I need to make sure more trash doesn't spill in while I'm working, so I’m going to head to the dump for a bit. Call me if you need anything."
I stepped outside and deployed my slimes at the garbage dump.
"..."
"Look, Mommy, slimes!"
"Yes, dear... keep walking..."
A passing mother gave me a very suspicious look. I decided to throw up another Concealment Barrier. As a Tamer with slimes, I wasn't breaking any laws, but I didn't want to gross people out.
The Concealment Barrier was a spell that used Dark Attribute mana. It didn't make you invisible, but it made people less likely to notice you. If someone did get close, they’d usually just feel a vague urge to walk around the area without knowing why.
I remembered when I first learned it; I accidentally tricked myself and walked past my own house several times.
I spent about an hour helping the slimes. By the end of it, the dump was empty.
I really wondered how their biology worked. Slimes weren't exactly gluttons—they were actually very efficient—but they would eat as much as I put in front of them.
Regardless, the trash was gone. Now it was my turn to shine. I went back inside and had the Scavenger Slimes and Cleaner Slimes spray Deodorizing Fluid throughout the basement and on the exterior wall. Once the smell was gone, I started washing down the surfaces.
"Mist Wash!"
Using Water Magic, I compressed water and sprayed it as a fine, high-pressure mist.
Back when I was training in the forest, I’d tried to create a Water Cutter like a high-pressure industrial jet. I’d failed, but after seeing how much dirt I’d blasted off a target rock, I realized I’d accidentally invented a power washer. It was the perfect cleaning spell.
It could strip away even the most stubborn stains, though it ate through mana like crazy. It wasn't a spell most people could use, but with my mana pool, I could keep it running indefinitely.
"Alright, that’s done."
The walls were finally clean. I let the Scavenger Slimes drink up the dirty runoff water so there was no mess left behind. Now that the room was tidy, the hole in the wall was even more of an eyesore. It was a safety hazard, too, so I decided to patch it up.
I used Create Block to form brick-sized stones from the soil outside, then used the same spell to square off the edges of the hole. Using the Adhesive Hardening Fluid from my Sticky Slimes as mortar, I began laying the stones. With the slimes' help, the job was done in twenty minutes.
Once I was finished, I had a Cleaner Slime give me a quick once-over to make sure I was presentable. I packed the slimes away and went to find Miya.
"Miya."
"Nya?! You look exactly the same as when you arrived... W-What happened-nya? Don't tell me you’re quitting too-nya..."
"Well, I am stopping. Mostly because I’m finished."
"..........Nya? What do you mean-nya?"
It was easier to show her.
I led the confused Miya down to the basement. Her jaw practically hit the floor when she saw the pristine room.
"Nya... What did you do-nya!?"
"I cleaned it."
"This is incredible-nya! It’s actually clean-nya! Everyone else gave up because the trash never stopped coming! Wait, you even fixed the hole-nya!?"
"I didn't want more trash falling in, so I used some Earth Magic to create stone blocks and patch it up. The color doesn't quite match the rest of the wall, so if it’s an eyesore, I can take it down..."
"No way-nya! I don't care at all-nya! I was going to hire a carpenter to fix it once it was clean anyway-nya. You saved me a whole job-nya!"
"In that case, are you satisfied with the work?"
"Of course-nya! You did it so fast and even fixed the wall... I’m definitely increasing the reward-nya!"
"Thank you very much."
Miya happily signed the completion form. My first job was officially a success. All I had to do was take the signed paper back to the guild to get paid.
As I walked back to the guild, Miya’s words of gratitude still ringing in my ears, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment. I’d managed my first job without a hitch, and more importantly, I finally felt like I could actually make a life for myself in this world.