CH 88

Doubling the Power Inadvertently

Translated by Mlzkzr

Edited by Mlzkzr

At Pindos’ mansion, audience hall.

I ignored the reports from the vassals below Mimis.

As of late, the territory has become more and more stable, and there is little for me to do with my duties, and after listening to their story, I was able to get most of it done with “that’s a good arrangement”.

“This is the last, Lord-sama”

Mimis said so and stared at me.

Unlike the previous reports, he brought it to the end, so it’s clear that my reaction is needed here.

I returned my half-awake consciousness to Mimis and nodded slightly.

“We have received a request from Her Highness Lina Mi Aegina.”

“A request?”

I frowned.

Because I had a bad feeling about it somehow.

Lina’s request …… has been nothing good in my experience so far.

But that doesn’t mean I can casually refuse here.

I let out a big sigh and ask Mimis.

“What did she ask me to do?”

“It seems to be a subjugation of a slime lord.”

“Slime Lord? Again?”

“Yes, again.”

Mimis nodded quietly.

“According to Her Highness, another slime lord has appeared on the very edge of the border of our territory. It’s showing signs of moving, and it seems that it’ll end up in our territory.”

“Is that so?”

I thought about it a little.

As for the story….. there’s nothing weird about it.

It’s a powerful monster that appears in the Canoe territory.

When it’s likely to move to another noble’s territory, it’s reasonable for us to take responsibility and exterminate it.

If I don’t do something like that, I’ll be forcing unruly monsters into other people’s territory.

If I do that, I will be suspected of my qualities as a noble and a ruler.

“Did you look into that slime lord?”

“Yes”

Mimis nodded firmly.

“As Her Highness has said, it appears to have occurred on the boundary between the other side and moved to the other side, which is ours. Well, we’ll have to take responsibility and do something about it.”

“Is that so”

If Mimis says so, then it must be so.

I thought about it for a bit ―― then I nodded.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?”

Mimis opens his eyes in surprise.

He’s surprised that I said I’d do it so easily, because he hears me always saying no, I don’t want to, it’s too much trouble.

“It’s better to get it over with quickly than to dwell on it.”

“That’s absolutely right.”

Mimis eagerly nodded, but there was some kind of implication on it, but…… I ignored it.

“It’s just a normal slime lord.”

I checked just to make sure.

“Yes, it’s almost exactly the same as the one the Head subjugated before.”

“Really”

Then I don’t see any problem at all.

What I don’t want is for people to find out that I’m actually that great.

I want to avoid my true ability to be revealed since that will cause more troublesome things to happen.

Hence, since I did it once, it’s no problem.

If it is just a matter of doing again what I had done before, then my evaluation will not increase.

At best, my positive evaluation would be that “I have stable power”, and that much is within the margin of error.

“It’s really just a slime lord, right”

“I’m certain of it.”

I further check with Mimis just to be sure.

I’ve done a lot of things that Lina asked me to do, but,

This time, it looks like everything will be fine.

☆

The next day, I left Pindos and headed to where the Slime Lord is.

There’s a reason I’m riding a slow horse-drawn carriage as a means of transportation, as I intend to get there quickly, beat the slime lord quickly, and come back.

“……”

“You, why are you wearing such a sour face? Are you sleep-deprived?”

“On the contrary, why are you here, Your Highness Lina?”

I scornfully glare at Lina, a royalty from Aegina, who sits across from me in the carriage.

Yes, I’m wearing a sour look because Lina is with me.

When I was about to leave in the morning, Lina came and said she would go with me.

Unexpected and unable to refuse, I took her in the horse-drawn carriage in the middle of the confusion and we traveled together.

“Did you forget, you’re now my teacher, right”

“Teacher? Ah…… you mean your instructor?”

Lina nodded.

At the King’s behest, she also became my apprentice.

I don’t know how serious she is, so I haven’t taught her anything so far.

“That’s why I came along. Fighting a powerful enemy like a demon king is beyond my comprehension, so there’s no point in watching it, but with a slime lord or so, there are things I can learn.”

“……That’s all?”

“That’s it for this time.”

Lina nodded.

I see, then I thought.

Unlike nee-san, Lina doesn’t come at me on my weak point.

It’s probably just as much of a scheme as I just mentioned.

“Besides”

“Besides?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really like to see you regretting and mourning after you’ve 『inadvertently』 done things.”

“I did something inexcusable”

“If it’s a slime lord that you have beaten once, it won’t be like that, right”

“That’s right.”

Lina and I look at each other.

I see, so in a way, this time, it’s like my interests and Rina’s interests are aligned.

No, I’m pretty sure that I was unilaterally singled out, so maybe it’s not a coincidence of interest.

That being said, I don’t sense any lies or deceptions in Lina’s words.

It appears that it will be over this time without any incident. (TN: That’s a flag)

☆

After half a day being on the wagon, we arrived at a gently undulating grassland.

The horizon was clearly visible, and there was nothing else in the area, but that is why I could see it clearly.

I saw the Slime lord being accompanied by many slimes, a few hundred meters ahead of me, wriggling in groups.

“I guess I should clean it up quickly”

“Yes, let me witness it”

Lina stared at me as she declared so.

Her determination to never miss what I am about to do from here on is palpable.

I smiled bitterly.

I then noticed how serious Lina was, and I was able to reconfirm that she was just here to watch me earnestly.

The carriage slowly advanced, then I stand up and hold out my hand.

It’s exactly the same as before.

After a monster is defeated, it leaves traces of magic power and other things.

So she can guess the extent of the power of the person who defeated it.

Because of that, I am more and more conscious of making it the same as before.

Err…… I’m pretty sure that it’s about 1/10th of my full power.

『The eternal, unchanging existence that dwells in the ancient world and nurtures time. Gather to my will and burn up the impure! Primordial Flame! 』

I stuck out my hand and shot a magic with about a tenth of my power.

Dogon!

In that instant, the terrain was blown away, along with the swarm of slimes.

What was once a gently undulating terrain suddenly became a huge crater.

“……Eh?”

“……What did you do?”

“No, nothing, in particular……”

Lina was stunned and I panicked.

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What was that just now?

Are you saying I couldn’t control my force? No, that’s not it.

It just appeared about half a year ago, so it doesn’t feel like that.

I, should have got it down to one-tenth of what it would have been.

“This power is amazing…… it’s about twice as powerful as before.”

“Twice…… ah!”

I was flabbergasted.

The contents of the bottle that Kaori brought, that bottle that doubles all of one’s abilities.

Is it …… because of that thing?

No, before that.

“I see”

“Eh?”

“It doesn’t seem like you lied. In other words, you’re twice as strong as you were back then. Is that what you were saying.”

“Hauh!”

Partly because it happened too suddenly, partly because of the flow up till now.

I, didn’t have an idea of how I was going to deceive Lina.