"...Slarin?　Hey, Slarin....

　It was early in the morning of the second day after we left the village of Colliat.

　I was sleeping comfortably in the carriage with a slime pillow on the floor when Irvine's voice made me lift my eyelids.

'What is it, Irvine?'

　I sit up and rub my eyelids as I call out to Irvine.

　I'm not particularly noble, and I'm not a woman, so I'm with the bastards when I sleep. There could be something wrong with the slime pillows, and there are two of them rather than one.

　Well, the slime is weak enough to lose all but the baby, and it's tied up tightly, just in case.

'Hey, you're lying, right?　Slarin', answer me!　You were moving like that a while ago!

　Irvine pettishly pats his own pillow while speaking in a sad voice.

　Slarin would have had a certain elasticity until yesterday. But now there were no remnants of that resilience, only a watery, choppy sound when Irvine touched it.

　Irvine closed his eyes and hugged the Slarin pillow as he remembered Slarin's lively appearance last night.

'..................Irvine.

　I realize what I'm doing now.

"...I'm so cold now...

...Irvine.

"...you were moving so well not long ago.

You forgot to feed Slarin, didn't you?

..........

　My words stop Irvine's movements from twitching.

　The slime will die if it is deprived of food for about two days. Once it dies, the slime loses its elasticity and turns into a slippery liquid.

　It's unacceptable for a slime pillow, for which elasticity is the key.

　So you can keep it alive by absorbing grasses and other things around it to keep its elasticity.

　In this way, the slime will be desperate to absorb nutrition and we can inhibit its movement.

　We can kill two birds with one stone. I think this feeling of trying to exploit everything without waste is very human.

''........You said you dreamed of becoming a slime king, didn't you?

　Irvine continues as if my words never existed.

　Slimes don't talk.

"I ain't gonna die until I'm the Slime King!　One day he's going to build a home for only slimes with many of his relatives.......

　Irvine continues the farce with a sobbing voice. He's too good of an actor to be left as an adventurer.

　As Irvine is screaming as if he's grieving the death of his companion, curses come from the wall with a thumping sound.

'Yuck!　Some of you are still sleeping, so be quiet!

"I'm sorry!

　I couldn't help but apologize for sounding so different from Aleusha's usual voice.

　Come to think of it, it's early morning now. Some people are still sleeping. It's not the wrong time to scream.

　Irvine placed the liquid slime pillow on the floor and started sleeping as if nothing had happened.

　I'm going to go back to sleep too.



　◆



　Then we moved on to the kicker, experimenting with slime pillows.

　We talked with Tori about further selection of materials for the pillow, how to sew it so the slime doesn't stick out, and so on. I talked with Tori about how to make it easier to manage the slime.

　A recent discovery is that if you cool or warm the slime by magic, its elasticity will change to a nice degree.

　I wondered how good it would feel to lay this fresh slime pillow on my head after cooling it down, so I cast an ice spell on it.

　The ice magic cooled the slime and made it a little more resilient and made it feel like it was sucking on your skin.

　If I were to compare it to a low-resilience pillow, it would be like a low-resilience pillow.

　When you press down on it, it feels more like it's sinking in rather than wrapping around you. It feels so good that you want to keep poking at it with your fingers forever.

　I was delighted with my new discovery, and I was able to sleep comfortably that day, enjoying the chilly, hard feeling.

　The next day, I warmed the slime with fire magic to see what would happen if I warmed it up just right.

　Then, the slime slowly lost its elasticity and became soft.

　For a moment I thought the slime was dead, but it wasn't a complete liquid, it still had a little bit of elasticity.

　When I saw that, I was delighted again that day.

　What a wonderful thing the slime pillow is, to be able to adjust its elasticity according to one's preferences. If it weren't for the downside of being a demon, I'm sure all of humanity would be buying it.

　From my point of view, though, that kind of thing is a trivial matter, so I don't care.

　After trying these things, I remembered that I had heard that slime is weak against fire and ice magic.

　Well, I guess it's just that slimes are basically liquid-based guys, so they are vulnerable to heat and cold air.

　It's like if you chill water, it will harden into ice.

　Tory was surprised by this, but he was lamenting because ice magic is rare and magic tools are still not something that can be spread to the general public.

　If it's fire magic, there are many people who can use it rather well, but it seems that it's difficult to add or subtract magic.

　It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it, but it's not a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it.

　Except for those who are called wizards, the best they can do is to generate fireballs and light wood. It is impossible to slowly sear or warm up the body.

　It's a good idea to supplement with magical tools, but the problem is that the average citizen is not that concerned about sleep.

　I would buy and use magic tools even if I couldn't use magic, but that's just my subjective view.

　If you're going to spend that much money, you might as well just buy an ordinary pillow.

　That's why Tory has decided to target slime pillows to wealthy nobles and merchants.

　I was wondering if such expensive people would buy the magical slime pillow, but according to Tory, aristocrats who love new things will definitely bite into it.

　Well, I'm addicted to it, and I'm also a nobleman.


　While we were experimenting with slime pillows like that again and again, the time passed by in the blink of an eye.

　And then, on the afternoon of the third day, we went to the central city of Kikka. We arrived at the central city of Kikka.

　--Kicka.

　It is a city in the slightly eastern part of the Misfirito Kingdom, and if you go north, it leads to the Kingdom of Ardonia. It's a place like a transit point where various goods are gathered.

　Naturally, since various people gather there, many people are living there.

　I'm not sure if it's a match for the luxury and opulence of the royal capital, such as the royal castle and the city walls, but Kikka has a lively atmosphere that is equal to the capital.

　I'm impressed that there is a city that is so prosperous other than the royal capital, and I enter Kikka in Torie's carriage.

　I've seen the guards rushing up to me, and I kept moving my head to see if they were there.

　I can't be reassured by this, so I asked Irvine and Malt.

I'm not going to be the only one who can do that.

Those guys are the gatekeepers to King's Landing, aren't they?

　Irvine, who had a somewhat blue expression on his face, questioned me timidly, and I shook my head vertically as if I were about to be torn to shreds.

　By the look on their faces, they must have been victimized a few times too.

　I don't think that's an easy thing to be a gatekeeper.

"I wouldn't be an adventurer if I had that kind of thing popping up all over the place.

They specialize in King's Landing. I've heard that they have more handsome men in there.

　He gives me information that Malt doesn't want to hear.

　That's right, there are a lot of handsome nobles and merchants in the royal capital. And many of the nobles are quite beautiful people.

　Or rather, those guards can do whatever they want using the pretense that it's official business.

　When I asked Torie if they would ever be sued, I found out that they are experts in dealing with a number of illicit goods and smuggling, and are rumored to be the right hand of high-ranking noblemen...

　Basically, I'm going to King's Landing as a transfer, so I don't have to deal with the gatekeepers, but I'm afraid that I don't know when I'll be sent to King's Landing, just like the other day's party.

　Next time I go to King's Landing in a carriage, I just hope I don't hit the southern gate if possible.