Chapter 55

Chapter 55

56: Blood Born For a week after that, we lived a normal life without anything special happening. Of course, it wasn’t as if nothing happened at all. There were several things, aside from the minor incident of running into Lakas and Eira coming out of the inn across the street after spending the night with Charka. Emily was recognized for her contributions to the investigation team and became an adventurer under the guild, officially able to take on requests. Still, she said she would work as a receptionist part-time when there were no jobs. Thanks to the investigation team’s confirmation, I received compensation for eliminating the goblin nest, and I didn’t have to worry about money for the time being. In the meantime, no members of Sartun’s organization came looking for me. There may not have been a club performance, or maybe they were doing their own investigation. It would be quite difficult for them to investigate since they don’t even know my name. Even if they were looking for my traces in Lakers, there was nothing to worry about. As long as I had the Leopold family’s mark, they would only come up with inferences that suited their tastes about me. Even if they confirmed that there was a prostitute named Laila Freeman, they were more likely to infer that she was a spy for the Leopold family disguised as her. Otherwise, the reason I acted that way in front of them wouldn’t make sense. Of course, that was just their inference, and the truth was different, but what could I do? Sartun was just a mere underworld organization in Karaldin, and the information they could gather was limited. So, for a week, I learned magic from Mien and spent time collecting slime cores when there was nothing else to do. I had to stop when a notice banning slime hunting was issued, but it wasn’t a problem since I had earned enough money. And now, a week later, I was facing Mien in an empty lot near Karaldin. “…Should I take it out now?” When I asked hesitantly, Mien nodded. “Yes. I’m all ready.” A magic circle was drawn on the ground of the empty lot. It was a spellcraft implementation of the familiar magic widely used in this world, and if you poured monster blood into it and injected magical power, the magic would be activated. Of course, you shouldn’t put in the blood of just any monster, but the blood of a monster that matches the type of magic circle you drew. Monster blood has magical power, but the nature of the magical power varies from monster to monster. That’s partly why magic is so complicated. Even if you drew a magic circle with Quaidon’s magical power and manifested magic, it might not activate with a troll’s magical power. In this case, we prepared the blood of a monster called Filar Utle, so we drew a magic circle suitable for it. “Hoo…” I took a deep breath and moved the internal energy inside my body. Then Arum, who was inside my stomach, understood and moved along with the internal energy. “Hnnng…” It was something I’d experienced several times already, but I couldn’t get used to the feeling of the slippery, viscous fluid stirring inside my narrow vagina and flowing out. It was a strange sensation, but in a way, it was a pleasure that seemed addictive. After a little time, a light pink viscous fluid flowed out of my lower body and began to crawl over my thighs. Mien looked at it and said with an interested look. “Indeed, it’s a highly intelligent individual. To be able to communicate even without magic yet…” She said that and grabbed Arum, placing it on her hand. Is it because she’s a mage? Even though I know it’s safe, Arum is a slime, and it doesn’t seem normal to just grab something that was inside my body until just now. Besides, her eyes as she looked at the slime were filled with nothing but academic curiosity. “Oh, its body temperature is higher than I thought?” “…It’s usually cold.” “Ah.” When I answered quietly, Mien had a blank expression for a moment. She probably knew what that meant. Arum is usually inside my stomach, so it’s natural for it to get warm. “Hmm, you said you picked this up in the underground waterway?” “Yes.” It would be more accurate to say that Arum approached me rather than I picked it up. It wasn’t the first time Mien had seen Arum today. After she returned, I showed her Arum, and Mien was interested in the fact that Arum was a type of slime she had never seen before. Of course, she was initially shocked that it came out of my stomach, but she soon nodded and accepted it. Honestly, I think that’s amazing. I don’t think I could have done that. Mien coughed lightly and continued. “I’ve been looking into it, and it seems to be an individual that was modified for bathing among nobles or wealthy merchants. There are so many variations of slime that I can’t be sure, but considering its characteristics, that’s probably right.” Slime is used for various purposes due to its characteristics. The most widely used purpose is, of course, sewage treatment in sewers, but it is also used for various magical experiments and daily life. Some individuals are trained not to judge and eat people or living creatures on their own, and some are even modified for combat and used as familiars. Mien lifted Arum once to estimate its weight and then continued. “Judging by its size, it may have escaped during transportation. Usually, slimes are delivered from the Magic Guild to the kingdom, but such small individuals are not worth much, so they are likely to be considered lost and not searched for. And no one has made it their familiar either.” Does that mean that whoever picks it up owns it? Either way, it was good for me. “Then, let’s get started.” // Familiars are largely divided into two types. Familiar Spirits, which summon and employ spirits with weak power, and Familiar Monsters, which employ animals or monsters that exist in reality. And in most cases, it refers to the latter. Since all you need is a monster, a caster, and a subject, this magic is simple yet powerful. If you employ a monster with powerful strength, it means you can control that monster with just mental power without consuming any tools or magical power. Of course, raising an employed monster is more difficult than raising a pet, so it was a luxury that only nobles could afford. In my case, I was lucky that Arum was small enough to fit inside my stomach, or rather, my uterus, and thanks to that, it didn’t need much food. I poured Filar Utle’s blood into the magic circle, stood on the Ruler’s figure, and Arum was placed on the Follower’s figure.

-Squish.

I wonder if it understands what’s happening. I couldn’t know its emotions, but it seemed to be okay since it was staying still. After confirming that we were in our respective positions, Mien nodded and slowly recited the runic language. “Lailar Sa Noma Arum….” She held a scroll made of parchment in one hand and a staff in the other, and continued to chant the spell. There was nothing for me to do while the familiar magic was in progress. The subjects of this magic were me and Arum, but the caster was Mien. “…Contara do Nom.” Finally, when the magic was completed, Mien placed the staff on the scroll and directed it towards the magic circle on the ground.

-Whoosh.

Then, along with a faint glow, something foreign began to penetrate my body. I could have resisted using Yin Devil Arts, but I accepted the energy quietly because I knew what it was. The unknown energy circled my body once, then rose above my head and settled there as if melting into it. Although the energy disappeared without a trace, I felt a connection with Arum. “Phew, it’s done.” Mien, who had finished the magic, sighed softly and looked at me. “Arum’s magical power is so weak that I couldn’t make a strong connection, but since it will always be attached to you, you can give commands within a 10m range.” The power needed to control an employed monster is mental power, not magical power. Monsters with low intelligence cannot overcome the spirit of humans with high-dimensional intelligence, and as a result, they are mentally suppressed by humans and listen to their commands. The relationship between the Ruler and the Follower only slightly widens the difference, but essentially, there is not much difference. Controlling monsters through superior wisdom. That was the principle of familiar magic.

-Squish.

Feeling Arum’s emotions flowing into my head, I frowned slightly. Mien smiled softly as she looked at me. “It may be difficult to adapt at first. Familiar magic is magic, but the resulting taming is a separate skill from magic.” “That’s right… It’s a little dizzy, for sure.” Of course, it wasn’t unbearable. There are nobles who control wyverns with this, so there was no reason to have difficulty controlling a slime. “Even though Arum is small, it will be useful in many ways. There must be many people who make slimes their familiars. If you do the crystallization process, it will become more versatile, so I’ll prepare the materials.” “There’s no need to go that far…” “It’s necessary. And you should say thank you at times like this.” At Mien’s words, I smiled wryly and nodded. Perhaps because I had lived alone for most of my time since being reincarnated in this world, I was not used to receiving something from others without any compensation. Still, I might have to get used to it now. I picked up Arum again and bowed to Mien. “…Thank you. Master.” “You’re welcome, congratulations on becoming a Tamer, Laila.” // After making Arum a familiar, doing the crystallization process that was said to be useful for slimes, and engraving the crystallization magic on my left wrist, three days had passed. At that point, I finally received a request from the Adventurer’s Guild. “A merchant escort request?” “It’s not a bad request to start with. It’s safe, and you can look around the surrounding geography.” When I muttered questioningly, Eira nodded as if it was okay. Come to think of it, it was my first official request as an adventurer. I had quite a bit of money because I had devastated a goblin cave and mainly hunted slimes. As a side note, the money I earned was deposited into a bank account under the Adventurer’s Guild. It seemed that banks in this world could not be used by individuals, and transactions were only made through guilds. I nodded at Eira’s words and looked at the request form posted on the guild bulletin board again. “It’s not bad… Ah.” There was a familiar name written there. Karabut Trading Company. If this was fate, then it was fate. In the end, I accepted the request according to Eira’s advice. // This request was with Emily. The Karabut Trading Company was a trading company with deep ties to Emily as well as me. When I said I would take the request, Emily immediately followed. In addition to the incident ten days ago, I had met Charka about two more times, so Emily was now somewhat used to men. Of course, that didn’t mean she had become like me, it just meant she had become a little more used to it. Still, her achievements were not very high yet. It was good that she had obtained a means to replace Qi Condensation, but it still took a long time to exert its effect. Or she needed a lot of men. However, it was clear that she would demonstrate considerable skill as she had learned swordsmanship along with martial arts. Outside the gates of Karaldin, we waved happily at the familiar face. “It’s been a while.” “It hasn’t been that long.” Taron, the head of the Karabut Trading Company. He was also the one who brought us into this city. He looked at me, smiled wryly, and shook his head.

“I can’t believe you became an adventurer.” “Isn’t it alright?” “Alright my foot. You picked the perfect job to die in.” It was a scathing criticism, but we couldn’t help it since that’s what we had in our heads. “I was grateful back then.” And unlike me, Emily felt grateful to Taron for getting her a job. As she bowed politely to Taron, he waved his hand and replied. “It’s nothing, you don’t need to thank me for no reason.” Of course, I knew how great the power of connections was, so I could tell that it was not ‘nothing’ at all. In any case, he was more than enough of a benefactor to us. ———= Author’s Note ———= I decided that maintaining the polite tone was more in line with the character’s personality, so I modified Mien’s speech.