Chapter 28: Sumer auction and taking it easy Part 1

The discussions of the Ministers have ended. Aaaand I received the great title of Ellee Sage… this suuuuuucks… Ellee Sage, the Great Cullinary master of Ellee… I'm just a glorified Eel cook! That's so lame!!! 

It has been three days since the discussion ended and today it was announced to the public that Ellees were edible and the preparation method will be spread to the populus before autumn fishing season starts. Also, the existence of the mysterious Ellee Sage was announced, so now everyone knew there was someone with great knowledge and mysterious origin. I just hope the fakes will be faster than the nobles who would want to use me so I can crawl in a hole somewhere… wait, maybe I could just hop back in Kassana Forest? No… there still are things I have to do…

Oh, what were I doing the three days you ask? I agonized about that silly title, of course!

"Master Arito, letters have arrived for you and Lady Blanche. Lady Lena, here is yours," a maid came to the book room where we were studying new spells. I've decided on broadening my Earth, Water, Fire, Space and Lightning type spells. Blanche picked up Light and Wind magic books and decided to try combining the two elements.

"Thanks Rosina."

"Thank you miss Rosina, but please, I'm no 'Master' just Arito is fine."

"I certainly can not address my lordship's guest just by their name," Rosina bowed elegantly and left.

"Haaaaaah. That's the third time already… One would think she would give up right around now…"

"Yeah, that won't happen," Lena smiled from her book, "You better just get used to it. Even though she is a maid, she is of noble status. I believe her father is a baronet? Anyway, let's open these letters."

"I feel you, Arito. I can't ease up being called like that as well," Blanche nodded in understanding gesture as her hands expertly moved to remove the seal on her letter.

"Well, what letters did you get, lovebirds?" Lena smiled at us, since we were sitting right next to each other and could see each other's letters. We shot Lena a harsh look and opened the letters. We received some lectures on crests and how breaking crests of higher ranked nobles could be seen as improper and downright treasonous.

"So, we got the same letter from princess Mushrooza, inviting us to a tea party and I got a letter from prince Andy saying his reward will be given to us at the party. I guess we have to go, then."

"You have your dress ready, right?"

"Yep. We're ready to go… will we need to bring some kind of gift though?"

"That would be for the best, yes," Lena nodded, "And since the event is hosted by the princess Mushrooza, you will only need a gift for her. But, to not make Andy jealous, you should get him something little too."

"Aaaaaahh, what would make her happy?"

"Hmm… for the princess, some kind of jewelry would be appropriate, you would just have to make sure it's not a ring or necklace, those are gifts you usually give for engagement."

"So a kind of bracelet or earrings?"

"Bracelet would be best, I think," Blanche added with a cold smile, so I agreed with her and patted her head.

"And for Andy… he likes monsters and wishes to become a researcher in the future, so something with a monster theme could make him happy."

"Hmmm… I guess I could give him this?" I produced one of my Magic sculpting figurines which depicted a Spider Skull bear with a group of Skull bears around him.

"Wow, that's so lively… I think it will make him happy for sure."

"Okay, then I just need to put it on some kind of nice and fancy wood and add a name to it…"

"I will take care of that. You should go to Mozz for the bracelet, though."

"Yeah… would you know about some silica?"

"Um, what?"

"I mean Silicon Oxide, a quartz essentially, I want to try making Citrine."

"Wasn't making diamonds enough for you?"

"I mean, it would be better to give her Citrine instead of diamond, I want to keep that for special occasions," I cocked my head towards Blanche secretly and Lena smiled broadly, jet weirdly wolfishly at the same time.

"I see. That certainly is an important person to give such a gem. I think there is only one place that would deal in stones like that. That would be Wilma Constructions, they use a stone called Silkan, which looks similar to silica."

"You know a lot about this, Lena," I observed calmly while patting Blanche who was sitting on my lap, demanding headpats, like a cat.

"I was researching ways to make money with magic even before we met."

Ah, she must have found it hard not to spread our world's knowledge without making it look suspicious… Since she is a daughter of an influential person, people could question her and if it became known she has memories of her past life, worst case scenario, she could be proclaimed evil and executed…

"I see."

"Anyway, did you give a name to that spell?"

"I call it <Create Gemstone>"

"That's… pretty basic."

"But it is exactly what it is. It uses existing material and turns it into a gem, it's a really delicate spell, and controlling it is a real pain in the ass, but it is worth it!"

The next day, I went to visit the Wilma construction and got my hands on scraps of the Silkan stone. As I found out, they couldn't use earth magic to repurpose it, as it is really fragile even as it is, but with Create Gemstone, I should be able to make it work. The most possible reason why they can't use earth magic on it effectively, is because they don't know the crystal structure, which we can't really blame them for.

"Well, thanks for getting all that from our hands, but are you sure about this? Paying ten thousand Alba for scraps is really a little too much," the head of the site said worriedly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. For me, these scraps have just that much value. I might come again, if I find some other materials useful," I smiled at him as I packed the last of the one hundred barrels I bought.

I mean, I got ten million for the clear diamond and I can use silica in many other precious stones. Herkimer diamond. Rock crystal. Smoky quartz. Rose quartz. Rutilated quartz. Citrine. Amethyst. Ametrine. Chalcedony. Carnelian. Aventurine. Agate. Onyx. Jasper. Tiger's eye. Prasiolite. Those are just some of the precious stones that have silica in them. With this stone, I can make a killing.

The stones I got were similar to pure Silicon, but with alchemy I could just add a little Oxygen to get the Silica I need. And from there it's just up to Create Gemstone to form the final gem. It's like printing my own money! …wait, do they even have paper money here? I don't think so…

"Arito, your smile is scary…"

"Oh, sorry about that, Blanche… Should we take a walk on the beach?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

We walked to the north, left through the docks and entered a public beach. The salty wind whipped against our faces and the smell of the sea and kelp attacked my nose drills. My eyes were squinted a little as the wind blew to my face and felt Blanche leaned onto me.

"This sand is really similar to mud, it's just not as slippery."

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's nice in a way… Hm? What is that thing?" Blanche pointed at a balloon-like creature with tentacles. It was light yellow in color and was slightly swaying due to the wind. It was clearly a jellyfish.

Lightning squid

A magic born sea monster commonly found around the Hailute continent. It has an organ capable of producing electricity which it uses for catching unsuspecting prey.

"That's a squid?!"

"Excuse me, coming through," a young boy with a basket on his back came past us. His basket was filled with squids just like the one before us.

"<Lightning protection>" the boy used a low leveled defensive spell and picked up the jellyfish.

"Um, could I ask you what you are doing?"

"Hm? Ooh! You aren't from the seashore, eh? These things get washed out all the time, so the Summoners guild and the adventurers guild pay us for bringing them in, they use them for paralysis potions, I heard. It's just twenty Alba per monster, but for the less fortunate it's like a godsend. Many slum kids help their parents by picking them up and selling them."

"One more question, do you know where slimes appear around here?"

"Slimes? The sewers are filled with them as well as rats and other nasty monsters. The guild sometimes asks adventurers to exterminate them, but I guess there is only one place outside of that place, and that would be the delta of the river. They usually appear around the place where water from the sea and river mix."

"Thanks," I smiled at the boy and gave him a pentagonal big copper.

"Whoa, are you sure?!"

"Yeah, thanks for the information," I nodded at the boy and continued walking hand in hand with Blanche. It was just fifty Alba to me, but to the boy it was a full dinner for him and his family.

"Do you think these squids have some kind of use?"

"Apart from the potion? I'm not sure, but if they can generate electricity, then maybe, if I feed them to slimes, they will evolve into electric slimes."

"Hmm… maybe they would give us paint like the Space slime. Enchanting with Lightning magic might be exciting," Blanche added.

"Oh? That's exactly what I was thinking right now," I smiled at her

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure if the Water slime and Earth slime will make the paint during the blue moon, but the chances are high."

"If we could easily enchant items with wind magic, then I would be more helpful."

"Oh, you are already plenty helpful," I patted her and gave her a kiss on her cheek, "I wouldn't exchange you for any other woman, no matter how strong."

After flirting for a short while, we returned to our walk. The day was hot, just like summer should be. Back in the forest there would be barely a difference between summer and spring, but it really is noticeable here.

"Hey look! It's shells!" Blanche picked up a pair of shells that looked like turbans. These shells were the same type the Acid slimes loved and were apparently from some small snail monster, whose only magic allowed it to harden the shell. Now that I think about it, the Acid slimes eat either these Turban shells or clam shells, maybe they will evolve into two different types of slimes?

"Look! There are even heart shaped shells!"

"…Did you know Arito? They say that if you share half of Heart shaped shell with your loved one, you will be together forever…"

A sentence my former girlfriend said to me back on Earth resurfaced in my memory and I quickly shook it off. There is no need for her to be in this world. Even as a memory.

"Let's look for some pretty shells then!" I chose present time and started picking shells with Blanche, when…

"K-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Blanche's leg was flung into the air as she was picked up by an enormous tentacle.

"<Circle Saw!>" I quickly cut off the tentacle and helped Blanche regain her posture.

"I'm all slimy…" Blanche teared up, but this was no time to care about that. Even though Blanche was slimy, she picked up her bow and quiver with arrows from her personal Magic Bag and prepared to take a shot. "What is this abomination's name? I want to know what I will kill…"

Anger was boiling in Blanche, so I decided to give her the information she wanted, without any delay.

Sludge Kraken

Distant relative of Slime-shatterer living near coastal cities where its diet mostly consists of human waste and trash dumped into the ocean. On rare occasions it develops a taste for human flesh, which makes them incredibly dangerous.

"It's a Sludge Kraken. I guess we can expect it to have some poison attacks. Let's see if it's edible."

"Okay! <Tailwind! > Eat this!!!" Blanche used magic to boost her accuracy and lower the chance of the kraken's attacks by having wind blow from behind her. Meanwhile, I opened up my Dimension home and took out some of my slimes. The Water slime in particular practically rolled into the water some way away from us, making sure it was away from the Kraken. The Sand slimes united with the sand and raced all around the beach. Only way you could tell they were here was the occasional pile of sand moving from one side to another. This could make for quite effective jumpscare…

As Blanche continued her fight, I used magic to surround the Sludge Kraken with <Earth Wall>

"Thanks Arito!"

"It's fine, I will go collect some shells for the slimes, okay?"

"Sure! Take that!!!"

The Sand slimes swirled around the beach and according to my order they formed a uniformed line, picking up shells and other things they found in the depths of the sand and bringing them out. Once they did, I went sifting through the items.

"Shell, shell, shell, wood, shell, gold ring, shell, shell, wood, wood, wood, old coin, wood, shell, shell, wood, wood, dagger, shell, wood, shell, shell, egg…"

All in all, I got a staggering amount of shells, driftwood, old coins and other human made items and one egg. When I touched it, it glowed with dim blue light and warmed up. The light grew brighter until the shell started to crack. The cracks grew bigger as the egg absorbed my magic power. The crack broke and a sky blue eye looked at me from the hole. At the same time the magic absorption stopped, I checked my Status card and found out my magical power was down by sixty percent. This must be the most magic power I used in a long time

"Ruuuu?"

The newborn chirped quietly as it broke through the egg. Now, I got to see exactly what I was dealing with.

"It's a… dragon. <Tame! >"

Chilltail Dragon

A small dragon with a body covered in ice crystals. It has a hard time flying, but its magical powers are making up for this small downside greatly. About fifty centimeters tall, it can grow up to fifteen meters or more, depending on the amount of Magical power it absorbs while growing up. Ice Magic 1, Ice magic Resistance 1, Ice Scales 1

"A Chilltail Dragon? I see it has quite a nice icy look… Hey there, little guy…"

"Ruuuu!!" The dragon exclaimed happily, rubbing its head against my hand. It was quite cold and refreshing feeling in this hot summer.

"Right, I better give you a name… What about, Ryuu?"

"Ru-Ruuuu!"

"Oh, you like it that much? Then welcome aboard, Ryuu!"

"Ruuuuuu!"

"How are you doing— Ah, you are done, I see," Looking at Blanche, I noticed that she was already done with the Sludge Kraken. The monster behind her, was not more akin to a hedgehog with all the arrows stuck to its body.

"Yep! I'm done. This guy wasn't hard at all. The Tailwind spell you made is really amazing. It tried to shoot balls of sludge, but it fell to the ground sooner than it could hit me. It also made its movement slower and my arrows faster, making them penetrate deeper."

"I'm glad you liked it."

"Honestly, I thought it was just a gentle breeze before, but I think better of that spell now. So, thank y— what is that?"

"A dragon that hatched from an egg I found. It's a cute one, right? I call him Ryuu."

"Does he have a similar power to Skopi?"

"Yep. They both can use Ice magic, but this guy should be stronger. He is a dragon after all. Anyway, I'm going to take a look at the Kraken, so you should take a quick cleaning with the Cleaning Slimes."

"Right, come, Ryuu. You don't need to get dirty, first thing after coming to this world," Blanche picked up Ryuu like a baby and took him to the Cleaning slimes with a happy smile on her face.

She's just like a mother…

I shook my head to get that thought out of my head and approached the dead Sludge Kraken. When I was close to it, I could tell it smelled really bad. I pinched my nose and cut off one of its tentacles before appraising it.

Sludge Kraken's tentacle

The suction cups can be used as material for magic equipment and the beak can be used for daggers. The meat is inedible. No kind of manufacturing will make it taste less foul.

"I guess it will become slime food, then… Let's cut off the beak and some suction cups… I should encircle them before taking them off, right? God, why are they so small? How am I supposed to cut them? … urgh, let's just peel the skin off, that should do it."

I cut off two tentacles worth of suction cups and the beak, which was actually made of four parts and had my slimes eat the rest. The Grime and Corpse slimes loved it probably the most, but the Poison slimes were no slouchers either.

***

"So… on your day off, you bought the stones, fought a kraken and tamed a dragon, do I get that correctly?!" Lena was practically fuming.

"W-well, I did buy the stones, but it was Blanche who fought the Sludge kraken… and the dragon actually hatched from an egg, so you could say it imprinted its parent figure onto us…" I tried to explain as the new tiny fellow was happily snoring on my head.

"That's the same thing!!!!"

"It's a little different, I guess," Blanche, sitting next to me, scratched her cheek.

"You two…" Lena growled at us, practically turning into an incarnation of the devil herself.

"Um, anyway, I need to start working on the stone, so I'm leaving."

"Y-yes! And I need to make sure, he eats and drinks when he works, so I'm going to look after Arito!" Blanche quickly added and stood up with me.

After escaping the furious Lena, I went to make the crystal so I could go to Mozz the next day to show him the crystals, but…

"Not even a single one…"

I had troubles envisioning the crystal structure, so the crystals always came out funny. I even made a crystal ball without a single blemish somehow.

"There's really a big difference in color and shape…" Blanche looked under my hands on my new crystal, that looked more like a banana, then a crystal.

"Urgh… the coloring and shape… I guess I miss something important… Maybe I need some other material for coloring? I used iron oxide for the Red Diamond, after all…" remembering back at making the red diamond, I took out my list of metals and went over them once more. "I guess Citrine would be the best, but I might have to do with some other type…"

After some middling, I finally was able to make a stone that could pass.

Heliotrope (Fake Bloodstone)

A stone that is said to be able to preserve health and youth, slows bleeding and works as a charm against poisons. About two centimeters in diameter. (Rich in magical energy)

"Fake bloodstone? So there are real bloodstones too?!"

"Oh wow! Such a pretty stone! Those red spots shine so amazingly… like stars in the sky!"

"Yeah… It's called Heliotrope. Gimme a second. <Sand Polish>" I polished the stone into a perfect ball, the red spots shining beautifully all over it.

"Yeah, I guess I could use this for a gift for the princess. Let's go see Mozz in the morning."

"Yeah, let's do that!" Blanche smiled happily.

***

"I'm so happy to see you again, Mr. Arito, Mrs. Blanche," Mozz smiled happily when he saw us.

"It's good to see you too, Mr. Gemma. I came here with a somewhat unusual request. I would like you to embed this stone into a highly decorated bracelet."

"Oh-hoh! Is this a Bloodstone, perchance?"

"Sadly, it is not. It's a stone called Heliotrope, it's also called Fake Bloodstone."

"I see, may I appraise it?"

"Of course."

"Hmm… I see, it works as a charm against poisons, eh? Once again you've brought me something interesting to my eyes. Can I ask what led to bringing the stone here?"

"Oh, I plan to give it to lady Mushrooza, who invited us to her tea party," as I answered honestly, Mozz's face stiffened.

"Arza! Summon our best smiths! We need to prepare the best possible bracelet!!" he flew into a frenzy. It took ten minutes until he calmed down.

"Master Arito, you are really something else… I thought my soul would leave me for a second."

"Sorry about that… Can I offer you some diamonds to improve your mood?" I passed him a wooden box with no decoration at all.

"How many are there?"

"About fifty small ones. I omitted stones bigger than my thumb's nail."

"Haaaaaaa… I understand. I will accept them under the same conditions as last time."

"Understood."

"Alright. Well, this was unexpected, but let me repay you a little," Mozz snapped his fingers and three servants with three carts came in.

"Um, what is this?"

"A little gift from me. Thanks to your diamonds, Mr. Arito, I was able to make connections with important nobles. This is the smallest thing I can do for you," Mozz said solemnly and snapped his fingers. First cart came in front of us, and a servant took off the blanket, hiding the item below.

"This is a book of Monster parts usable in Magic smithing and what they are good for. It is called Monstersmithing encyclopedia and it covers all the basic and intermediate practices."

"Wow, that's exactly what I was looking for, thank you," I bowed politely.

"There is no need for that now, we are still getting started. Next cart please."

The second cart had four boxes with monsters inside. Three of these were completely unknown species to me, which excited me a little. First was a Light slime, like the one Lena tamed. Second slime was called Honey Slime and its look and consistency was literally that of a blob of honey. Third slime was called Wooly slime and it looked just like a ball of sheared wool. The fourth and last one, was called Feather slime, just like the Foliage slime that grew leaves from its body, this slime grew feathers from it. All of the feathers were white, but some were more fluffy than the others.

"There is also a list of places these slimes came from and their possible diet."

"Thank you… The Giant Bee farm near the capital city of Amoeba principality for the Honey slime. The Wooly and Feather slimes came from rural areas of Aclelania kingdom and the Light slime came from… your brother?" I looked surprised at Mozz.

"My brother is a researcher at Slime institute. Sadly, they have a little funding to go by, so he is looking for different work. Though, he is a slime enthusiast, so he will have a hard time. He sold me this slime because it could not serve any other purpose anymore."

"I see. I guess, I'm interested a little in this 'Institute' you are talking about."

"I will tell my brother to give you a tour sometime," Mozz nodded in acknowledgement.

Now came time for the last gift. The servant pushed a cart in front of us and uncovered the item. There were two sets of magic armor. Chestplates, plackarts, tassents, cuisses, greaves, gauntlets… all of them of the highest quality. They were made from leather, so they were light too.

"This is…"

"It's made from Blackrock lizard's skin and its defenses are on par with iron fullplate," Mozz explained to surprised Blanche.

"These all are really amazing. Thank you Mr. Gemma."

"Of course. Now, let's discuss the other matter," Mozz looked at me seriously and sent the servants away.

"Right."

"The two employees I mentioned before are ready to move."

"Okay."

"As I explained before, Hugh's father isn't on board with their marriage. They thought that if they managed to get away, then it would be better for them and they wouldn't put their friends from this branch into danger."

"Right. That's where I come in with my shops."

"Yes. Can I summon them?"

"Please do," I nodded to him and Mozz ringed his handbell.

Soon, the pair came in. They were both elves, but were on the shorter side, so one might mistake them for a similar race called Flatears. The man had wavy light blue hairs and the girl had yellowish green hairs. If I remember correctly, they are subspecies called Sea Elf and Forest Elf respectively. From what I heard from Blanche, she is from a different kind of elves called Jungle Elves and their hairs tend to be more on the dark green side.

"This is Hugh Glister and his wife Emma. Hugh is a talented guard and is equally as good as a manager, just as one would expect from a Royal Academy graduate. Emma on the other hand is a great cook and a gem cutter."

"Is she the one who worked on the diamonds per chance?"

"No, sir, that was my father," Emma spoke up with a little courtesy.

"It's nice to meet you both. I heard of your predicament from Mr. Gemma here, and as I am in a dire need of employees, I would like to hire you."

"You are the shop owner? I heard you are quite a talented Earth mage and a tamer," the man looked me up and down with a judging eye.

He doesn't know if I'm reliable.

"Mr. Arito here is close with Duke Nomille's family, so you two should be ready to meet them."

"I-I see," his eyes eased a little.

"Anyway, you are free to come and see my shop for yourself. I can't force you to work for me just because Mr. Gemma introduced us. You can decide whether you want to work for me or not after that. But please remember that there might appear my monsters in the shops and given some of them are believed to be unknown species, I will have you two swear secrecy."

"I see, thank you for explaining that, sir."

"I thank you very much," Miss Emma smiled at us.

The two bowed and left the room. Right, I have to ask Mrs. Merle about wages… plus I can't have the two of them do it all by themselves, so I better hire some more muscles…

We continued talking with Mozz for about two hours before ending it and parting for the day. The bracelet would be done in two days and the day after that was the tea party, so we still had a lot of time.

***

"Lord Arito, Lady Blanche, Lady Lena, I'm glad you could make it," princess Mushrooza smiled at us and we took a knee, as Raven taught us in the free time he had. When you are invited to a noble tea party and you are of the lower class, it is customary to take a knee, or kiss the host's hand, however, since princess Mushrooza isn't betrothed or wed, taking a knee is the only option we have.

"It's good to see you, lady Mushrooza. Me and my companion Blanche have prepared a small token of our appreciation of today's meeting," I gave her a stiff greeting expected of us, before handing her the highly decorated box with the bracelet inside.

"I am glad you managed to make it, please be at ease and enjoy today's tea party. Now, come and drink some tea, sir Andreas was kind enough to prepare sweets for today's special occasion," princess smiled happily and seated us on each side of her. Prince Andy nodded to us magnanimously and we returned it in kind.

"Let's look at what we have here… Ooooh! What an amazing bracelet… these small stones are rubies, right? But what is this big stone in the middle?"

"This stone is known as Heliotrope, sometimes called Fake Bloodstone. It has some special effects, only seen in this stone."

"What an amazing stone… I thank you ever so greatly. Does it look good on me?"

"It suits you marvelously," Prince Andy said with an enthralled voice. Oh, is he that much head over heels for her? I guess I should help him out sometime.

"Thank you, sir Andreas, you are ever so sweet. By the way, lady Blanche, could you tell me what you are using for your skincare? You are practically shining."

"Oh, that would be because on top of the soap, I'm using a deodorant solution made by Cleaning slime."

"A slime-made deodorant?" Mushrooza was surprised and raised her eyebrows while hiding her mouth with a fan.

"Indeed. It's a highly potent deodorant that almost completely eradicates smells, plus it has cleaning properties and can remove makeup that tends to be on a more resilient side."

"That sounds absolutely lovely, is there a chance to get it? I'm willing to pay you for it, of course," princess Mushrooza signaled instantly to her maid.

"Oh, there is no need for that. Here, this is a sample of the deodorant. If you like it, you can get it from the MonsterWork company. However, they are based in Aula city, so there might be a need to ask for a delivery," Blanche went for a sales pitch as she took a bottle of clear liquid from her Magic Bag and gave it to the maid. That's my girl!

"MonsterWork company you say? Alright, I will look into it," Mushrooza nodded with a bright smile on her face.

"My lady, don't forget the matter at hand, please," Lady Mushroozas maid whispered to her ear.

"Right. Lord Arito, Lady Blanche, I am deeply grateful for your assistance, hence, I would love to give you the best present in my ability but, as we are just getting to know each other, please accept these Badges of Honor, which prove you are under protection of our royal family. They might not be noble ranks, but no noble would be foolish enough to mess with you when holding it. Additionally, my father sends this pouch with reward money. He believes that good deeds should be rewarded, hence the pouch."

"We are ever so grateful for this wonderful gift you've given," We both bowed deeply. Coincidentally, the amount of money in the pouch was equal to two big pentagonal platinum coins, i.e. 100 million Alba. The king of theirs really loves his daughter, hm? With this kind of money, we don't have to worry about most of the things in the city… not like we need the money, but it's nice to have a Safety net to have this soon.

"Now, allow me to add my part," Prince Andy tried to sound important, but given he had a few crumbs from cookies on his cheek, the effect was hard to see. "I too, would love to thank you for your heroic appearance and helping us in our time of need. Hence, I brought you Risha's Badge of Honor, a pouch with reward money and an invitation to the Sumer auction."

"We are ever so grateful for this wonderful gift you've given. Can I assume that we will be accompanying you as your guests?"

"Yes, that is indeed the case. Lady Lena, what about you, do you wish to come with us as well?" prince Andy nodded to me in agreement and turned to Lena who came with us, but remained silent for most of the time.

"I believe I will. There might be some interesting items on sale this time around."

"Do you want to see the catalog? I brought the ones for the first three days of the auction with me."

"Truely, sir Andreas? Then, is it true that there is a necklace with a big red diamond?" Mushrooza asked with glitter in her eyes.

"That item was submitted, but it will be presented on the fourth day, if I heard correctly. Apparently it's the work of Gemma company and MonsterWork company."

"Oh? MonsterWork company again? Have you heard anything about such an item, Lord Arito?"

"I've heard that they are working with monster materials as their main wares, but I sadly don't have information about this specific gem," I bobbed my head in apology. It's not nice lying to them, but the <Create Gemstone> spell needs to stay secret for now. Though, I believe the Carbon Slimes will be able to make them by themselves soon.

As we were sitting next to each other, we started flipping through the catalogs. There was a lot of magical armor and weapons as well as amazing works of art. The catalogs were completed with pictures of said items. Apparently there was a magic item called Cameira, which could record black and white pictures, which could be colored.

"There are surprisingly a lot of monsters auctioned…" Lena muttered.

"Yes. This year, a lot of monsters were captured in the Draggera Empire during the winter and spring, which led to them being auctioned here. It's still weird they decided to bring them over. Monsters tend to be the main focus of the Sumer auction when it's held in the Draggera Empire, though…" Andy added.

"Arito, will you go for some of these?"

"Hmm… that's a hard question. There definitely are some monsters that pique my interest. The Celestial Orb is the lowest ranked angelic type monster and can evolve in many ways, I've heard… then there is this… Fallen Succubus it's called? I'm interested in how fallen demonic beings differ from Fallen angelic types."

"Are you interested in monsters, sir Arito?" Andy asked me.

"Well, I am something of a monster researcher, so my curiosity is certainly piqued by these monsters."

"You are a monster researcher?!" Andy's eyes sparkled as he looked at me.

"Well, more or less. I primarily work with slimes and Wolves…"

"I see. You know, I want to be a monster researcher too, but my father is against it…"

"I can understand that. Monster research is a long distance run, with little to no reward. I myself picked it as a hobby, and it took almost two years before I could form any concrete thesis."

"Two years?" The prince was surprised.

"Mm-hm. My first thesis was that slimes evolve depending on their diet, and it took me a year to get somewhat provable results."

"So you know how to evolve slimes?!"

"I haven't met a species that would prove me wrong so far, though there are three new species that I obtained recently."

"Oh? And what are those?"

"Honey Slime, Wooly Slime and Feather Slime. I've procured their favorite food and had regular slimes eat them, but there is no guarantee they will evolve right away, some slimes take weeks —months, even— to evolve, after all."

Not to mention that mushroom eating Moss slime that is still to evolve after almost two years of mushroom diet…

"I've never heard of those slimes before… You really never know what you will get to see in this world. I thought there were only Acid, Poison, Cocoon, Moss and Healing varieties with the Regular slime as their base for branching…" prince Andy pondered while sipping his tea.

"Yes, I thought the same until I met Arito. It was quite an eye opening time, I was able to tame a Light slime and a Healing Slime, at the time," Lena added with a smile.

"A Light slime? Is that another new species you discovered, Lord Arito?"

"Hahah, no, this one was discovered by Lady Lena, it was also recently revealed to me that there was another researcher who discovered it, but decided to keep quiet for some reason. Though, it is true that this discovery might lead to evolution of new slimes." As I talked about the slimes, while enjoying a delicious tea, I noticed a presence lurking towards us.

"Who goes there?!" one of the knights reacted towards one taller bush. This sent shivers down the kid's spines, however me and Andy managed to jump to our feet, getting ready for combat. Blanche behind me with Lena flanked princess Mushrooza, guarding her.

"It's okay!" a hand appeared from behind the bush and a man with black hair came out. He had slightly darker skin and slightly pointy ears, reminiscing of elvish ears. Romi said that the first king had a half-Ancient half-Dark Elf as a wife, so her traits must've survived to this day.

"Y-your majesty!" The knight saluted as he saw the king.

"Calm down, I just came to get a look at the person who helped my son," the king waved his hand reassuringly while moving up to me, "So, you are Arito?"

"Indeed. My name is Arito Aruze. Due to various circumstances I travel with Nomille family and am a member of Green Leaf adventurer party," I knelt down, Blanche following suit behind me.

"It's fine. It's fine. Stand up, it wouldn't do, to make someone who helped out my son kneel before me. Also, catch this," the king gestured to me to stand up and threw me a red bag with a golden string. There was also a royal crest engraved in it, "With this thing you should be able to get in and out of the royal capital without standing in those boorishly long lines."

"I-I don't deserve such a thing! Please reconsider!"

"There is no need for that. You've not only saved my only son, but also helped out the royal knights who were in severe predicament until you came. Mark was talking about you, you know? That old fox might've lost a leg, but he just grins as if nothing happened! He even makes jokes about saving up on the price of shoes!"

With that kind of attitude, it's no wonder the soldiers were so attached to him.

"I guess, I will accept, then."

"Good! Happy to hear that! Now tha—"

"Well, well. What do we have here? Intruding at a children's tea party, are we?" an elderly man with an intense look smiled at the king. He was most likely an elf, but since he was quite old already, all his hair were grayish white.

"Uhh… hey there, Primo…"

"Either use my name or my official title, please," the man smiled coldly, "Now let's get back to your official duties before the queens find out."

"Great, so the rest of the guys bailed too. Makes me feel better already," the king smiled as he got dragged away by the older man.

You know what? I'm starting to worry about this alliance a little.

We continued chatting for quite a while before deciding to end the party. In the end it was quite an enjoyable afternoon, however...

"Haaaah, I'm beat…" I dropped to the sofa, closing my eyes.

"You did great," Lena smiled softly as she took seat on the other side from me.

"Thanks, don't feel like I did."

"Me too, I was so on edge the whole time…"

"Your salesman pitch was great though," I patted Blanche who dropped next to me and started snuggling.

"Anyway, what did the king give you?"

"I didn't even check, but I think it's just some money?" I took out the pouch from my Item Box and untied the golden cord, "It's black…"

I stuck my hand in and it disappeared inside without it being much noticeable from the outside.

"Huh?! Did he give you a Magic Bag?!"

"It's quite small, just for my hand. I can feel coins and… huh?!" What I took out was a dagger made of greenish silver, or in other words, mithril.

"Fuck." this single comment dropped out of Lena as she saw the dagger I took out.

"From that comment, I think you know about this thing?"

"Of course I do. This is High nobility 101. Crested Dagger is given only rarely. Owning a Crested Dagger means you are under protection of the noble family that gave you that dagger as well as it can work as proof of allegiance to said noble family and all family heads of noble families have to receive a dagger from the king and return it when the family head is exchanged. In some cases, it can even be interpreted as becoming a vassal to a noble family. However, mithril Crested Daggers also mean you will be treated as a noble yourself. Given the length and number of rings on the handle… you might be seen as a Count once you are recognized."

"You're fucking with me arent'cha? Can I return it?"

"Only with your head. Plus, the dagger absorbs the magic power of the first person who touches it, so it is now only at your disposal. If anyone but you tries to use it, it will glow red."

"It's because of those pests, isn't it?"

"Most likely. Those bears are A rank as individuals, after all. In a group they are treated as pseudo S rank."

"We should've stayed clear of that shitty emergency quest!!!" dropping to my knees, I felt as if all my strength left my body.

"I will talk with dad to see if something can be done. For now, think of it as a shield. However, if time comes and you make a grand contribution to the kingdom, it will become your ticket to nobility."

"If it's a ticket, I can burn it."

"CALM DOWN ARITO! YOU'LL BURN DOWN THE HOUSE!!" Blanche and Lena tried to extinguish my fireball as I was looking down on the accursed dagger.

Ain't no way I'm becoming a noble! If things go that way, I'm taking Blanche, kids and running back to the forest!