Apparently, It’s Rare to be able to Tame a Lot

“…I’m bored…”

Nearly half an hour had pa.s.sed since the start of the test.

And I had lots of time to kill.

Back on earth, I had so much work left even after staying up several nights in a row.

“Hey, did you find anything interesting?”

I tried asking the slimes.

Well, the slimes and I shared each others’ vision through magic, so there was no way they would know of anything.

“This leaf is delicious! Do you want some, Yuji?”

Uh.

I had been wondering why the view from one of the slimes had been moving oddly. So it was eating leaves.

Unfortunately, I was not in the habit of eating unfamiliar leaves. And so I didn’t really like having them recommended to me.

“Be careful. I don’t want you guys to get sick after eating anything strange.”

“Okay!”

…But did slimes even get sick?

I continued to talk with them to pa.s.s the time.

I was bored, but not tired.

After all, this wasn’t like back on earth where I had to stay up for two to three nights.

–And so a few more hours pa.s.sed like that.

Then things changed suddenly.

The instructor had appeared in the vision of one of the slimes.

“Yuji. Someone is here.”

“Ah. I can see. If it’s not dangerous, stay there and continue to watch.”

“Okay!”

The slimes were all stationed so that there were no blindspots.

I wasn’t sure if it the placement was the most efficient or easy to defend, but there were so many slimes that it was easy to create such a surveillance system by scattering them almost randomly.

And the instructor was walking right through them.

No, he sometimes hid behind trees or lowered his posture, as if careful to stay unnoticed. But the slimes saw him completely.

It was kind of…well, I felt a little sorry for him, because of all the effort he put into it.

So I decided to go and meet him as he slowly made his way here.

And when we were close enough that he would be able to hear me…

“Uh, about this test…do I just need to spot you? Or do I have to drive you back with my abilities as well?”

I said as I pointed a summoned sword at him.

I hadn’t pointed it at him because I intended to cut him.

I just wanted to show that I had a will to fight if it was necessary.

If it did come to an actual fight, I would probably avoid using a sword, as I had merely been lucky the last time I used it. It would be far easier to transfer magic to any of the slimes that were nearby.

However…it was not necessary.

“No, you just need to spot me. Oh, dear…I did not think that you would find me so quickly. And you didn’t even make a fire. How did you do it?”

“My slimes found you. They saw everything when you started to approach.”

I said as I pointed to a slime that was near my foot.

He hadn’t even noticed it.

However…I started to think that I wouldn’t have noticed the slime either, if I didn’t have Shared Senses.

Besides, they were quite small and nearly transparent.

And it wasn’t as if they attacked you or moved in a way that caught the eye. They just silently watched you.

It would actually be impressive to notice them in this dark forest.

“Are you serious… I have heard of people using tamed monsters as scouts…but I’ve never been caught this quickly before…”

“Well, I have a lot of them, after all.”

I said. Then I used a spell I had remembered in order to light up the area so we could see the other slimes.

From where we were, we could see seven of them.

It would have been impossible to sneak through with this many.

“…Huh? I thought you had tamed just one slime?”

“Well, they can split up and then combine again. So I usually carry them around as one slime, but split them up when there is a need.”

I said as I pointed at a nearby slime. Then I ordered it to unite and then split up from another one.

The instructor saw this and seemed to be satisfied.

“I see. Yes, I have heard of slimes being able to do that. But taming seven slimes at once… You are not only a monster with magic and swords, but also as a Tamer…”

Uh, it seemed like he was a.s.suming that there were only seven…but I felt like it would be troublesome to correct him, and so I didn’t.

I thought that it would be better not to talk about the number of slimes in the future.

As I considered this, the instructor raised both of his hands.

“Alright then, I yield. And now I shall quietly retreat.”

He said, then turned around and went back from where he came.

The slimes continued to watch him, but it seemed unlikely that this was a trick and that he would try to return.

…Still, he had not said that it was the end of the test, and so I had to continue to guard the tent.

◇

And then several more hours pa.s.sed–and it was morning.

It was a time when your ability to focus was the weakest. That was when the change occurred.

A tree that appeared in one of the slimes’ vision had moved as if touched.

And then it happened with another tree. Something was coming closer to me.

But…this was different from the instructor.

–Because I could not see anyone.