I spent three days swaying in the carriage as we traveled.
Most of my time was spent preparing meals or learning how to handle horses from Mizeria and Miya. Whenever monsters like Goblins attacked, Raypin’s magic struck them down immediately. Even when they appeared in large numbers, they never reached our carriage; the high-ranking adventurers gathered here were simply too efficient.
There wasn't even a minor role for me to play. Without any assigned work, I found myself with too much time on my hands. I’d heard that being able to drive a carriage was a useful skill, and when I asked, they were more than happy to teach me.
And so, even now, I was practicing a skill I had never even dreamed of in my previous life.
"It looks like you've mostly mastered the basics," Mizeria said, watching me from the seat beside me. "I think you'll be fine once you get more experience."
"Thank you, Mizeria." I was glad to receive her seal of approval.
Still, I couldn't say I had truly mastered it yet. If I didn't keep practicing after this request, I’d probably forget everything. I wondered if I should buy a carriage of my own once I got back. No, that felt like a waste; I wouldn't have many opportunities to use it, and I'd have to care for the horses as well. I decided to think it over more carefully before making a move.
About four hours later, we reached the outskirts of the town nearest our destination. After another twenty minutes of driving, the town gates came into view.
As the foot traffic increased, I swapped places with the professional coachman and Mizeria moved to the back.
Leisurely observing the gates and the townscape, I noted that the place seemed much smaller than Gimul. However, it was reasonably bustling. Every building in the town was constructed of wood, and we constantly passed carriages laden with timber. Forestry was clearly the lifeblood of this community.
By the time I finished my observations, we had arrived at the inn. The three men and four women split into separate rooms. Afterward, we gathered information at the Adventurer Guild regarding recent Trent sightings to prepare for the following day.
The next morning.
"Is everyone ready, de gozaru?"
We all nodded at Asagi’s call and stepped into the forest.
Miya and Mizeria took the lead, followed by Silia and Welanna. Raypin and I took the middle, with Asagi bringing up the rear.
The forest was dim and oppressive. It reminded me of certain parts of the Gana Forest, yet something felt different. The air was stagnant, leaving me with a faint, suffocating sensation.
"Hmm... we have one already," Raypin observed. "Miya, do you see that tree about ten meters ahead? The one slightly thicker than the others?"
"Is that the one, nya?" Miya asked, pointing.
"Indeed."
I looked at the tree Miya indicated. It was a conifer about four meters tall, with a trunk roughly thirty to forty centimeters in diameter. It looked virtually identical to the trees around it. While it was slightly larger and its branches seemed longer, you wouldn't have noticed the difference without looking closely.
Once Raypin confirmed it was a monster, Miya and Mizeria checked the area for other threats before approaching with one-handed axes. Since our targets were Trents, the women had swapped their usual gear for machetes and hatchets.
As they drew near, the tree's branches flexed and lashed out like whips.
The two dodged the strikes with ease. Despite their wooden texture, the Trent’s branches were surprisingly supple, attempting to entwine around Mizeria as she moved. She immediately hacked through a limb with her axe, causing the branches to go limp and the trunk to tilt slowly.
"It's okay now, nya!"
"We finished it off!"
When I walked over to them, I saw Miya’s axe embedded deep in the wood. I hadn't been able to see it from my previous angle, but she had slammed the blade into a knot that resembled a face, perfectly splitting the "forehead" in two.
"If you dodge the branches and hit them like this, you can finish them in one go," Miya explained.
"When they're alone, they're pretty easy," Mizeria added. "I think you should try fighting the next one we find by yourself, Ryoma."
"Thank you. I will...?"
I noticed Raypin standing beside them, wearing a deeply troubled expression.
"Raypin, is something wrong?"
"Finding one this close to the entrance is unusual," he replied. "Trents are monsters that prefer the dark, deep parts of the forest. They rarely wander this far out."
Come to think of it, the information we’d gathered at the guild hadn't mentioned any sightings near the entrance.
"There might be a lot more of them deeper in," Welanna noted.
"It might just be a stray that got lost, but we should proceed with caution, de gozaru," Asagi warned.
We all focused our attention as we trimmed the branches from the fallen Trent and stored the timber in Raypin’s Dimension Home.
We hadn't gone much further when we encountered another.
"There's one. Ryoma, give it a try," Raypin instructed.
"Right."
I stepped forward and drew my katana, which was forged from a Big Iron Slime. The scabbard was made from a Big Metal Slime, and thanks to the Hardening skill, it was incredibly durable. The blade itself was razor-sharp, and since I had grown accustomed to the slimes' Deformation skill, I knew I could instantly repair it even if it chipped or bent in the middle of a fight.
I used Mana Perception to lock onto the target. Enveloping my body and the blade in ki, I took the Hasso stance. This Trent was thinner than the first, but as I approached, it lashed out with its branches the moment I entered its range.
I circled to the right while dodging, spotting the face-like knot that served as its weak point. I swung my katana down in a smooth arc, lopped off the knot with a clean horizontal stroke.
The Trent let out a sound like a low groan, but it was harmless. The severed knot hit a root and rattled across the ground. I had finished it in a single blow. Its mana rapidly dissipated, and its branches drooped as the tree began to topple.
"No problems there," Raypin noted.
"We have a lot to gather, so let's keep this pace up."
A Trent's danger lies in its camouflage and surprise attacks. If you can spot them before you enter their reach, they aren't much of a threat. One-on-one, I could handle them easily. The real question was how they would behave in a group.
We continued hunting until noon, securing a large amount of lumber. By the time I had grown fully accustomed to the rhythm of the fight, we stumbled upon a pack. Together, we annihilated and collected them all.
To our astonishment, our final tally for the morning was 147. We discovered that the Trents had occupied a large clearing usually used as a resting spot, creating the illusion that the forest continued unbroken. This discrepancy was also missing from the guild's reports.
"We have time, so there is no need to rush the collection of the timber," Asagi decided. "I am more concerned that the population is significantly higher than we were told. We should inform the guild immediately."
The situation was definitely different from what we had expected. Including the morning's haul, we already had nearly 200 Trents. Since we were aiming for at least 300 and already had more than half, we decided to head back to town early.
At the guild, we reported the state of the forest to the receptionist—a woman somewhat older than the usual guild staff. She listened with a solemn expression.
"I see... thank you. Actually, several other parties came in just now reporting the same thing. We were just discussing sending someone to investigate the depths of the forest."
"Have you any idea what caused this outbreak?" Raypin asked.
"There is a possibility that an Elder Trent has appeared. They inhabit this forest year-round, and every few decades, one is sighted..."
"As I thought. Is it still safe for us to enter? Are there any restrictions?"
"Please, feel free. For A-Rank and B-Rank adventurers like yourselves, it shouldn't be an issue."
I was only E-Rank, but I kept my mouth shut. The woman didn't seem inclined to stop me, either. In fact, she offered us an official Trent extermination request since we were going in anyway.
Adventurers are allowed to take multiple requests simultaneously. Experienced adventurers often accept secondary tasks that overlap with their main goal to maximize their income. In this case, we would get a bounty for killing the Trents here, then transport the lumber to Gimul to fulfill the original contract. It was a perfect arrangement with no extra effort required.
With the information gathered and the new request in hand, we were done for the day. Since we wouldn't be heading back into the woods until tomorrow, the rest of the day was free time.
"I've ended up with some unexpected leisure..."
I didn't want to waste it. I entered my Dimension Home to train with the slimes, deciding to focus on spearmanship with the Poison Slimes.
A few dozen minutes into my training, a thought struck me. What would happen if I handed Melzen’s Spear over to a Poison Slime?
The magic spear had been sitting in my Item Box for a while. It might be a bit heavy, but a Poison Slime should be able to wield it as a basic weapon. But what about the magic? I knew slimes released mana when they evolved, but could they do it on command?
There was only one way to find out.
I summoned a Poison Slime and told it to try releasing mana. It did so easily. This might actually work.
I pulled Melzen’s Spear from my Item Box and had the slime grip it and channel its mana into the weapon. A violent jet of flame erupted from the spearhead.
"Success! Can you swing it like that?"
The Poison Slime manipulated the flaming spear, showing off its skills. Its movements were sluggish compared to usual, likely due to the weight, but it was managing. However, after a few minutes, its coordination began to fail.
"Is it tired? I never see them get exhausted, but maybe it's out of mana?"
I was about to tell it to stop when the Poison Slime dropped the weapon as its body began to wither and shrink.
"What happened!?"
I rushed over to check on it. Its life didn't seem to be in danger, but it was clearly weakened. Its body was now about half its original size, and it moved with a heavy lethargy. I began feeding it poison-attribute mana while I observed its condition.
"It didn't use the Reduction skill... normal Poison Slimes don't have that."
Monster Appraisal confirmed the absence of the skill. So why did it shrink? Was it because it used its mana? That was the only variable, but that raised a new question: why would using mana cause its body to contract?
"The body... mana... was it consumed?"
I didn't have proof, but what if a slime’s very body was composed of mana? That would explain why it shrank and grew weak after using it. I couldn't think of any other explanation. Mana isn't something you can see or touch, yet a slime’s body disappears when it dies. If their bodies were made of mana, that would make sense.
"I’ll put this theory aside for now."
For the moment, I would proceed with the hypothesis that a slime's body is mana. I wanted to hear Raypin’s thoughts on the matter.
When I brought it up over dinner, Raypin admitted he didn't know either. He was surprised that I’d even thought of giving a magic weapon to a slime, let alone that the slime could actually trigger it.
"It is a possibility," he eventually concluded. Monsters inherently possess more mana than regular animals, even if they can't cast spells. There was nothing strange about a slime having mana. However, if using mana caused them to shrink, it didn't explain why species like Earth Slimes or Heal Slimes—which use magic regularly—didn't suffer the same fate.
This was going to require much more research.
The next day.
We spent the day hunting and collecting Trents once again.
The sheer number of them was incredible. We took turns resting throughout the morning, and by noon, we had collected roughly 600 units worth of timber over the last two days.
"My Dimension Home is starting to run out of space," Raypin noted. "I think we’ve gathered enough for today. What does everyone else think?"
We had reached our goal and still had time to spare. No one objected, so we decided to wrap up our work.
"Ryoma! Look at that!" Raypin suddenly pointed toward the sky.
Looking up through the canopy, I saw a small green sphere floating in the air. On top of it sat what looked like a giant dandelion puff.
"It's a slime!"
"A slime!?"
"That is a Fluff Slime. They possess the ability to fly. I don't believe you have one of those, Ryoma."
"I’ve never even heard of them. Can you catch it?"
"An easy task. 'Pick Up!'" he chanted.
Raypin thrust his hand forward, and in an instant, the slime that had been high in the air appeared right in front of him.
"What was that?"
"Space Magic that teleports a target to the caster’s hand. You have to be able to see the target, and it is notoriously difficult to aim, which is why few people use it. However, it allows for capture without injury. I use it for all my research specimens, including Grel Frogs."
"I see..." That explained how he’d caught the frogs so easily.
"Hurry and form a contract. We aren't in a safe area yet."
"Right."
I quickly finished the contract. It was a tiny thing, fitting perfectly in the palm of my hand. I tucked it into my Dimension Home, thanked Raypin and the others for keeping watch, and we resumed our trek back to town. My pace was a bit faster than before, eager to examine my new companion.
We reached town before sunset. I went straight to the inn and used Monster Appraisal.
Fluff Slime Skills: Flight Lv1, Growth Stimulation Lv5, Weight Reduction Lv10, Photosynthesis Lv3, Absorption Lv1, Division Lv8.
Since it had Photosynthesis, it didn't need to digest food. Absorption was likely for water. Flight, Growth Stimulation, and Weight Reduction were all new to me. And its Division level was incredibly high. I wondered if they reproduced much like dandelions.
I lifted the slime and had it activate Weight Reduction. Suddenly, its weight vanished entirely. It was already light, but now I couldn't feel it at all. Its size remained the same, but its mass had clearly changed. It seemed the skill only worked on the slime's own body; if it worked on other objects, someone would have realized how useful they were for baggage transport by now.
When Weight Reduction was active, even the slight breeze from my arm moving was enough to blow it away. That was likely where the Flight skill came in. "Floating" seemed like a more accurate description, though it appeared it could adjust its altitude slightly by modulating its weight. It was still mostly at the mercy of the wind, though.
Raypin later told me that Fluff Slimes can travel vast distances on the wind, so they can be found almost anywhere. However, they rarely appear in massive swarms. I asked why, given their high Division level. He explained that while they do release "seeds" like dandelions, very few of those seeds actually develop into new slimes. Furthermore, when they do swarm, they become a massive nuisance, and local villages usually put out extermination bounties immediately.
I decided I would take my time thinking of how to utilize the Fluff Slime once this job was finished.