I woke the next morning to the touch of cold air against my skin.
"Good morning."
"Morning, Ryoma."
"You’re up, huh? Yesterday was quite the ordeal."
When I headed to the washroom, I ran into Kai and Kei, who had likely come to get ready for the day as well. Both looked quite sleepy.
As expected, the conversation immediately turned to last night.
After I had emerged from Niki's secret base, everything had proceeded quite smoothly. Niki followed me out almost immediately, and though he grew visibly nervous as we approached the village, he didn't try to run away again. He returned home on his own two feet.
Shin, Peiron, and Kai had been waiting for us outside the base. I think it also helped significantly that Sein and Kei had rushed back to the village ahead of us to spread the word that Niki was safe.
Aside from the moment Niki’s father tried to drop a no-questions-asked fist on his head the second they met in the square, the rest of the night had been relatively peaceful. We simply sat down and had a calm, rational discussion.
"By the way, Ryoma, is your face okay?"
"Yes, it's perfectly fine."
"Well, that’s good. You gave us a real heart attack when you jumped in and let yourself get clocked like that."
"Exactly. I know you promised Niki you’d protect him, but still."
"Ah... well, his father was clearly worried sick. It didn't feel right to forcibly restrain him when he was just venting that relief as anger."
"That doesn't mean you had to take the hit with your face."
"Hahaha..."
In any case, I was just glad everyone was safe.
Sharing a laugh, we finished our morning preparations and breakfast before heading out to work while it was still dark. On the way, I spotted some familiar faces.
"Oh? Kai, Kei, isn't that Niki and his parents over there?"
"You're right."
"What are they doing out this early?"
As we spoke, the family noticed us. Niki waved vigorously and jogged toward us with his parents in tow.
"Morning, Big Brother!"
"Good morning, Niki."
When I greeted his parents, they both bowed deeply.
"Thank you so much for finding our boy yesterday. We didn't get a chance to thank you properly last night."
"Ah, well, it was pitch black by the time we got back. Couldn't be helped," Kai said.
"And we were up talking until the small hours," Kei added.
"Even so, I wouldn't be able to sleep right until I said it to your face," the father insisted.
"In that case... thank you very much," I replied.
"Hey now, why are you the one bowing?" Kai teased, sparking a wave of light laughter among the group.
"Check it out, Big Brother! I'm gonna be working at the processing plant starting today!" Niki announced.
"At the processing plant? How come?"
His parents answered for him. "Since he caused so much trouble for the whole village, we decided he’s going to help out until noon every day as an apology and a punishment."
"I thought about waiting until he was a bit older, but the brat clearly has energy to burn. He can at least handle hauling water and moving crates."
"Sounds like you've landed yourself some real labor, Niki," Kai remarked.
"Is it that bad?" I asked.
"Well, hauling water usually just means drawing from a well, but the processing plant uses massive amounts of it. A hundred or two hundred trips won't even scratch the surface. The adults take turns, obviously, but it’s heavy work. Usually, we wait until the kids are a bit bigger before making them do it."
"I see... Good luck, Niki."
"You too, Big Brother!"
We shared another laugh before continuing toward the beach. Along the way, Niki walked happily, holding hands with both his parents.
Perhaps they had managed to have a real heart-to-heart after getting home last night. To my eyes, they looked like a very close-knit family.
"See ya, Big Brother! When you're done with work, you gotta teach me about the slimes!"
"I will. Do your best at work."
Upon reaching the shore, I parted ways with Niki and began preparations for the subjugation. This mostly involved summoning the slimes and having them take their predetermined positions. Because my role was simple, I made sure to be extra thorough with my final checks.
As I was inspecting the units stationed around the fish processing plant, a voice boomed across the sand.
"The wave is coming!!"
Triggered by the leader's shout, the beach instantly erupted into a frenzy of activity. "The wave" was the signal that a swarm of Mad Salamanders was surging ashore.
"Ryoma! Are you ready!?" Sein shouted over the din as he joined me.
"Ready whenever you are!"
"Alright!"
He immediately moved to his post, and I hurried to my assigned position. Standing with my back to the processing plant, I looked out over the slimes deployed across the beach. They appeared still, but I could feel a palpable sense of battle-readiness radiating from them.
"Heave! Ho!" "Heave! Ho!"
The battle between the fishermen and the Mad Salamanders had already begun on the boats offshore. In the corners of my vision, I could see them hauling in the nets. It was only a matter of time.
I suppressed my racing heart and waited. A few minutes later, the first catch was rushed toward the processing plant, and the first monster hauled its bulk onto the sand.
"Here they come!"
"Roger! Please handle any that break through the perimeter!" I called back to Kei.
Kei’s standby position was right at the edge of our sector. One of the monsters spotted a fisherman running with the catch and lunged across the sand toward him... until it hit the trap.
"——!?"
The Mad Salamander suddenly began writhing in agony. It didn't make a sound, but its thrashing body told a story of intense pain.
"Mission success."
The first stage of the plant's defense was "Obstructing Progress," handled by the Iron Slimes and Metal Slimes. They had a natural disadvantage when it came to moving on sand, but I realized they didn't actually need to move at all.
During the preparation phase, I had instructed them to flatten their bodies like rays or flounders and bury themselves beneath the surface. I told them that the moment a Mad Salamander stepped on them, they were to transform parts of their bodies into harpoons.
The result was the scene before me. The monster had stepped onto a blade that hadn't been there a moment before. Its flesh was pierced, and as it rolled around trying to tear itself free, the slimes pushed their metallic bodies deeper, entangling themselves and using their own weight to anchor the enemy to the spot.
The lead monster was completely stranded, unable to even reach the spear wall of the Poison Slimes. Already, about ten more following behind it had been snagged by other Metal and Iron Slimes, left flailing in the sand.
"Man, that’s actually a little hard to watch..."
I turned to see Shin, the adventurer leader, approaching.
"Good work, Ryoma."
"I was just checking the perimeter. Everything seems to be going well."
"So far, yes. The captured monsters will gradually lose their strength, and as the numbers grow, the ones in the back will likely crush the ones already pinned down."
"And if they start climbing over the pile, we proceed as planned. If the numbers get too high, you use your area-of-effect Dark Magic to thin them out and adjust the flow... right?"
"Exactly."
Shin went quiet for a moment, looking out at the beach.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"Hm? No, I was just thinking that if this strategy keeps holding up, we might be able to thin out the adventurer presence here and still be fine."
He explained that this village wasn't the only one dealing with Mad Salamanders this season. If they had a surplus of combat power here, he had to consider reassigning some of his men to other areas that were short-handed.
"Assuming we have the breathing room, of course. No matter how bad it is elsewhere, there’s no excuse for neglecting the post we were assigned first."
"I understand. That makes sense."
In any profession, accepting a job comes with a heavy weight of responsibility. For the sake of my own training—and to prove my slimes' worth—I needed them to keep up the good work.
"Well, we'll see how today pans out. Make sure you show me just how much these slimes can really do."
"Understood."
As more fish were brought into the processing plant, the number of attacking Mad Salamanders began to swell. I watched the leader walk away and renewed my focus, ready for the real fight to begin.