Volume 3 - CH 17

“Jeez, isn’t it fine if we flirt a just a little bit?” What is Sufi even saying here. She even knows that I already have Livia.

“Look here. What do you think my relationship with Livia is?”

“Good question?”

“…She’s my lover.”

“Well then if Livia disappears…”

“Are you serious about that?”

“Kidding, I’m just kidding. But just because you have a lover doesn’t mean there’s a reason not to have another one right?”

“No, normally a person only has one.”

“Eh? Being a human sounds like a pain. Well, this isn’t even the upper world so that doesn’t really matter does it?” Looks like Sufi didn’t really care about that. She took hold of my arm and hugged it. I tried to resist by pushing her away with my hand, but her body just morphed around my hand.

I could use magic to push her away but going that far would just be a pain, so I gave up and sighed. Thinking back on it, Livia also wasn’t super against me gaining more lovers. Of course in her case she just wanted to be my number one.

Oh right. How about I try speaking from that angle?

“Sufi. Just saying, but Livia will always be my number one. No matter how you approach me, you know you’ll never be able to be my number one, right Sufi?” So give up alright? That’s what I was trying to convey to her, but Sufi just smiled.

“Well, I guess that can’t be helped. I’ll do my best to be your number two.”

“…”

H, huh…? I was kind of expecting her to say something like ‘well in that case I’ll give up’ or something. Sufi remained glued to my arm and would not get off. Far less than being pushed away, Sufi conversely took my words as a sign of me giving up resisting. As I walked together with Sufi, she smiled happily the whole time.

“Hey, so what exactly caused this change of heart for you anyway? Didn’t you have a grudge against humans?”

“Yes I hate humans. But I love you Crest?”

“…No, but like, why?”

“Well, I mean you did save me. In the middle of our most desperate crisis you came and saved me. Isn’t it natural for me to fall for someone so strong?”

“I see.” Strong, huh. Those living in the lower world lived a life of constant danger. Perhaps it’s in their nature here to yearn for the strong.

“Am I not charming for you? Is a slime too much?”

“It doesn’t really have anything to do with being a slime. I told you before, but it’s because I have Livia.”

“That’s okay. I’ll show you I can become more charming than Livia.”

“…Haa” That’s not the problem though. Perhaps part of the reason for this is her low intelligence? Sufi’s missing a few screws in her head. Maybe slimes just don’t have the capacity for this kind of thought pattern in the first place.

When I met her as a leader I thought she was someone with an air of tension, but now that I see her close hand this is all I can see her as.

“We should be arriving at the lake soon.” Said Sufi glancing in a certain direction. I walked that way with Sufi. Then I could see a lake. It wasn’t particularly big. Probably wouldn’t take that long to walk around it.

A small river was flowing out from the lake.

“There are monsters in this lake. Shall we lure them out?” Asked Sufi.

“Sure.”

I can get some points from monsters I’ve never fought before. I expectantly asked Sufi to go ahead, and she made her way closer to the lake before reaching a hand towards the water. Sufi’s hand touched the water surface with a ploop. I got closer to see what was going on, but I really had no idea what it was Sufi was doing.

“What are you doing?”

“I turned a part of myself into monster food to lure them over.” So it’s something like fishing then? While I watched her from the side, Sufi’s brow twitched. “…Something’s coming, get ready.”

The moment after Sufi uttered those words, a fish sprung forth from within the water. I appraised the monster’s information.

It was a monster called a ‘blade fish’. It had a sharp nose similar to a blade, which it used to try and stab us the moment it laid eyes on us.

Dodging its attack, I swung my sword at the blade fish. My sword easily bisected the blade fish. Only took one hit.

“…As expected of you, Crest. When we fought one of them before it was quite a hard battle.”

“Well, I guess it’s just at that level.” I checked my gacha points. 200 points huh. It’s good that I’ll be able to get an 11-roll from them. “I guess we should keep going like this. Any more monsters around?”

“It looks like there’s still a bunch.”

“Got it. Let’s hunt twenty-five of them.” I basically just took care of them. The blade fish threw themselves at me one after the other, I killed them, then the slimes and werewolves took them for processing.

“…Lord Crest is crazy strong.”

“As expected, our chief is incredible.”

Watching me taking them down in one hit, I gradually gathered everyone’s envy. I wasn’t hunting them alone to show off or anything.

This was the ideal way to go considering efficiency, but it seemed that in practice it mostly just gathered everyone’s envy.

Well, in the end it’s better that they can rely on me as their chief than if they can’t. After taking down 25 of them relatively quickly, I wiped the slight amount of sweat that was forming on my brow.

“Good work.” As Sufi got closer she took my hand from my forehead. My sweat stuck to her hand before she brought it to her mouth.

“Oi.”

“Fufu, delicious.”

“Don’t eat it you freak.”

Sufi stuck her tongue out. Then one of our companions came over. “I’ve prepared today’s lunch. Should we take a short break here?”

“…Well I suppose so.”

It was exactly noon. We’d finished our goal for today, so I doubt anyone could complain about us taking a little break.

Sufi received the lunch from the slime and sat down next to me.