The following morning.
"Manager, a customer is here to see you."
"A customer?"
I was greeted with the news that someone was already waiting for me the moment I stepped into the shop.
"Miya-sama mentioned she wanted to discuss the experiment."
I see. That made sense. I nodded and headed toward the reception room.
"Excuse me."
"Ryoma! I've been waiting for you, nya!"
"Good morning. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting."
"I'm the one who should apologize for barging in like this, nya. But I absolutely need a replacement for this Odor Absorption Fluid, nya."
"Does that mean the effect has already worn off?"
When I asked for more details, she explained that while she had set it out the previous day at noon, the odor had returned by yesterday evening. That meant it lasted for roughly one day.
"Was it still working this morning?"
"There's no mistake about that, nya. This fluid is incredible. The stench from the garbage dump vanished completely. It was so refreshing that I found myself taking deep breaths without thinking... The neighbors coming to drop off their trash gave me some very strange looks, nya..."
"That sounds..."
Visualizing the scene, I could see why she might have looked a bit eccentric.
"But when they actually got close to the dump, they realized the smell was gone and understood, nya. Since they experienced the effect themselves, it’s certain it was working until morning, nya."
"I see. But a duration of only one day... it’s as short as I feared."
"Nya? Did you know it wouldn't last, nya?"
"To some extent."
I had discovered this during the experimental stage shortly after the slime evolved. There was a hard limit to the effectiveness of the fluids excreted by the Deodorant Slime. For example, if I used Appraisal on this bag of exhausted Odor Absorption Fluid...
Odor Absorption Fluid Bag A bag filled with Deodorant Slime's Odor Absorption Fluid. The fluid inside has reached its saturation point and can no longer absorb odor components.
That was the result.
As the description indicated, the fluid had reached its maximum capacity and could no longer pull in any more scents. I already knew that the Odor Absorption Fluid had a relatively low storage capacity. That was why I predicted it would only last a week at most, even in better conditions than a Cleaner Slime's fluid. I hadn't expected a long-term effect from the start.
"However, since my initial experiments used the powerful stench of Scavenger Slimes, I didn't know how long it would hold up in a typical household environment. That’s why I asked for your help, Miya-san."
"I see, nya... Well then, do you have something that lasts a bit longer?"
"In that case, would you like to try the Deodorization Fluid this time?"
In previous experiments where I placed equal amounts of fluid in a Scavenger Slime's stench, the Odor Absorption Fluid failed within minutes, whereas the Deodorization Fluid held out for nearly an hour. However, the Deodorization Fluid was also notably weaker at drawing in scents from the surrounding air.
It was durable, but its effective range was limited. That was the core characteristic of the Deodorization Fluid.
"Understood, nya. I should just put it in the same spot as before, nya?"
"Please do."
"Leave it to me! I want to see a finished product as soon as possible, so I'm happy to help, nya!"
With that, Miya-san took the bag of Deodorization Fluid and headed home.
"A finished product, huh..."
In truth, I could already see the final form. It wasn't just a hint; the answer was practically staring me in the face.
As I turned my gaze toward it, the "answer"—or rather, the Deodorant Slime that had provided the fluid—trembled.
It went without saying that Deodorant Slimes synthesized both Deodorization Fluid and Odor Absorption Fluid within their bodies. They possessed the same innate abilities as the liquids they produced. Furthermore, unlike the secretions of a Cleaner Slime, the fluids from a Deodorant Slime could be mixed or diluted.
So, what would happen if I combined them?
The Odor Absorption Fluid was highly effective at drawing in scents from the environment. The Deodorization Fluid could store a large volume of odor components and actively neutralize them. By mixing these two types of fluids, I could likely compensate for the weaknesses of both. There might even be a way to use them as base ingredients for something entirely new.
Well, I had too few Deodorant Slimes to consider commercializing it just yet, so that was a project for the future... Oh.
The Deodorant Slime was trying to consume the used Odor Absorption Fluid bag I'd left on the desk. It seemed intent on eating the scents it had captured.
...I wonder if the Odor Absorption Fluid is actually a biological trap the slime uses to catch food?
I sat there for a while, lost in thought about the nature of the Deodorant Slime as time drifted by.
After finishing my work at the shop and eating lunch, I made the rounds to the others who were helping with the experiment. Aside from Miya-san's place, the effects were still holding strong everywhere else. As I suspected, the location of her house simply presented the harshest conditions.
Even at the butcher shop owned by Sieg-san, the fluid was still working... Just as I was feeling a bit guilty for having such a rude thought, I arrived at my next destination.
"Excuse me."
"Welcome—"
The moment I stepped inside, a voice called out from the right. I looked over to see a young man leaning his chin on his hand behind the counter. He didn't look particularly motivated.
"Wait... aren't you the kid from Bamboo Forest?"
"Yes. My name is Ryoma Takebayashi. You're familiar with our shop?"
"Thanks for the polite intro. I'm Dancebell. As you can see, I work at this bookstore, though I'm really just having the shopkeeping duties dumped on me by my old man. My family has been using your shop quite a bit lately, actually. If you're looking for something specific, let me know. I can hunt it down for you."
He was unexpectedly talkative. He gestured toward the bookshelves that were crammed into every corner of the dim shop, packed so tightly there wasn't a single gap. Finding a specific book in this maze looked like a daunting task.
"Would you mind? I don't have a specific title in mind, but I'm looking for an encyclopedia of medicinal herbs or books on basic pharmacology."
Whether dealing with medicine or poison, creating them required both knowledge and skill. While I had received pharmacological knowledge from the gods, it was essentially a gift. I thought it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to study the fundamentals properly. I didn't have the time to apprentice myself to a master, so reference books were my best option.
"In that case, follow me."
He led me to a shelf near the corner on the far side of the counter.
"This is the section for medical texts. Are you really going to read these? Books like this are usually pretty dense."
"My grandmother taught me the basics, so I think I'll be fine. I just want to verify everything starting from the foundations."
"Hmm, I see... If that's the case, these are probably your best bet."
He pulled out three volumes. Two were thick tomes: a Medicinal Herb Encyclopedia and a Poisonous Herb Encyclopedia. The third was an Instruction Manual on Compounding Medicines (Basic Knowledge). All three bore the seal of the Medical Guild on their covers, which suggested the content was highly reliable.
"How much for the three of them?"
"Wait, you’re buying all of them?"
"Depending on the price... if possible. Is there a problem?"
The clerk shook his head.
"Now that I think about it, your shop is supposedly raking it in. It’s fine by me if they sell. Books are expensive, so not many people buy them on a whim."
"Is the price that high?"
"Well... high-quality paper meant for long-term preservation costs about 10 Suut per sheet at the low end. A book is hundreds of those sheets bundled together. Just the materials alone put the cost at several thousand Suut. Then you have the cost of ink, the author's cut... it adds up."
The total for the three books came to 15,000 Suut. It wasn't an issue for me, but it was certainly a high price. It was easy to see why most people couldn't buy them casually.
"Since you've got the coin, how about these two as well?"
The man started recommending other books, but none of them were supervised by the Guild. They appeared to be self-published works by individuals.
"I'll stick with these three for now, thank you."
"I see... fair enough."
He didn't push the matter and quickly processed the payment.
"Come back if you need anything else, okay? If it's a book that's been sitting on the shelf for a while, I might even give you a discount. Feel free to drop by."
Leaving him to sink back into his listless state at the counter, I stepped out of the shop.
He didn't seem like a bad guy. If the books turned out to be useful, I might return.
"Ugh, what is that smell..."
I turned toward the source of a sudden, foul breeze and saw a group of children pulling a cart loaded with garbage. Among them, I recognized a familiar face.
"Hello. You're Wist-kun, right?"
"Ah... R-Ryoma-kun?"
I called out to the large boy pulling at the front of the cart, and he seemed to remember me.
"Hey! Why'd you stop... oh, Ryoma?"
"S-Sorry!"
"I should be the one apologizing for interrupting your work."
Wist started walking again at the sound of the other boy's voice. A boy who was small for his age had stepped out from behind the cart—it was Beck.
Wist, the Greater Monkey-kin, and Beck, the Lesser Monkey-kin. They were two of the rookies who had been part of the subjugation request at the abandoned mine.
"Sorry for stopping you so suddenly."
"I'm not mad. Not at you, and not at Wist. This guy is just a massive coward," Beck said.
"I see. You haven't changed."
"So, did you need something? I can talk while we move."
"I just happened to see you and wanted to say hello. Are you working today?"
"I'm supervising these runts."
Supervising. Indeed, the other children hauling the trash all looked quite young, with the exception of Wist.
"Is that the city's garbage?"
"Yeah. Collecting trash from the city and hauling it to the waste processing plant in the slums is a common job for... well, for slum brats."
"I see. What happens to the garbage after that?"
"The adults at the processing plant either burn it or haul it outside the city limits to bury it. We used to do this before we became adventurers, too. But since handling fire or going outside the walls is considered a job for adults, I don't know the exact details."
They were likely being cautious of monster attacks.
"Even inside the city, you have to watch out for carriages and crowds, or someone gets hurt. Adults usually do this early in the morning or late at night. They can move faster during the day, too, but these kids can't handle that yet. So, we watch over them when we have a break from our own work. Luth and the others are out with other groups, too."
"...So you're doing this voluntarily, not for a formal request?"
"When we were the ones pulling the carts, the seniors who had become adventurers would come to watch over us. Isn't that just how it goes?"
"I don't know if it's common, but it's certainly admirable."
There was likely no profit in it for them. Yet, they hadn't forgotten the kindness shown to them when they were younger, and now they were looking after the children following in their footsteps. That was how they supported one another as a community.
If they truly viewed this as a natural part of life... then even if they were poor in a material sense, they were surely rich in spirit.
"Admirable...? What's with that look in your eyes? It's weirdly warm."
"No ulterior motive. I just genuinely thought it was a great thing to do."
"Whatever, it's creepy..."
"My apologies. I'll get out of your way then."
There had been some friction when we first met, but I felt certain they would be fine. Looking at them now, they looked healthier than before. At the very least, that stifling, desperate atmosphere that used to surround them was gone. Praying that their lives would continue to improve, I turned and headed home alone.