The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

"Here is your quest reward and material purchase money. Please confirm."

"Thank you. By the way, Miss Receptionist, doesn't it seem like everyone is looking at us?"

I receive the bag from the usual receptionist.

Having returned to the guild to report on the extermination of the orc settlement, I finished reporting and receiving the reward from the familiar receptionist and spoke to her.

I feel an unusual amount of stares. When I turn around, other adventurers quickly avert their eyes.

The receptionist makes a troubled face and says,

"It's probably because of the rumor."

"Rumor? What rumor?"

"The rumor that Ruruk-san defeated the demons. ...Is it true?"

Eh, what's that about?

Only Branch Manager Tamerik and a select few from Count Ketaaru's household should know about that. It's related to town management, so I don't think they'd be loose-lipped about it.

For now, I'll try to evade the receptionist who's asking in a low voice.

It's fine as long as I don't lie, right?

"Who spread such an irresponsible rumor?"

"I-I see... But it seems to have spread rapidly just today. I've been troubled by everyone asking me over and over if it's true."

"Is that so? That's troublesome."

"Yes. But I think it will settle down soon, so it's just a little patience, Ruruk-san!"

The receptionist clenches her fist with teary eyes, pumping herself up.

Ah~ how soothing.

Since I got to see the cute receptionist's reaction, I'll keep quiet about who spread the rumor. I feel like there might be some intention behind it spreading so quickly, but there's no point in worrying about it.

For now, since my wallet has gotten heavier, I thought about buying some delicious snacks for the little girls on the way back — and as I was leaving the guild, I saw Elen walking towards me. Punisuke was riding on top of her head.

Pretending not to notice the passersby being startled at the sight of the slime,

"Huh? Weren't you supposed to go shopping with the master and Saaya?"

"Mm. The two are training."

Oh wow, as expected of Roze. Even though we just got back from a quest, they're already training.

If she left Elen with me, they're probably going a bit far. She said she'd teach substitution method and various magic at first, so she's probably looking for a place where attack magic can be used.

I hope she's not forcing them into combat.

"Master! Look, look!"

Punisuke bounced on top of Elen's head.

On top of its fluffy body was a small chef's hat.

"Did the master buy it for you?"

"Yes! I'm going to cook with Master too!"

"Oh, I'm looking forward to that."

Punisuke quivers happily. The chef's hat doesn't move at all, as if it's stuck tightly. How skillful.

...But training, huh.

It's fine for Saaya since the master is watching over her, but Punisuke will be quickly defeated by monsters at this rate. No matter how high its intelligence is, its endurance and health values are still single digits.

Maybe I should train it a bit.

"Hey Punisuke. Want to do some special training?"

"Yes! I want to become strong!"

"Alright, let's go then."

I decided to take Elen and Punisuke outside the town.

It's a bit uncomfortable with all the stares in town.

There were quite large rocks scattered in the plains on the east side of town, making it a useful place with obstacles. Once we reached a place where we couldn't be seen from town, I placed Punisuke on top of a small rock.

"Alright Punisuke, do you know what skills you can use?"

"Let's see, there's this thing called elasticity control and~ gigantification!"

I see. It seems unaware of temperature control and transformation.

Let's start with the skills it's aware of.

"How big can you get with gigantification?"

"I'll try! Hngh, hngh"

Punisuke grows larger while making sounds.

It seems it can grow to about my size at maximum. That's quite big... I could lie down on top of Punisuke.

No, no. A Punisuke that makes people lazy is... I'll try it secretly next time.

"Thanks. You can return to normal now."

"Pshu~~~"

Punisuke shrinks rapidly.

By the way, it's not actually leaking air. It seems to be just a matter of Punisuke's mood.

"Then next is elasticity control. Can you do it?"

"Yes! I'll become soft!"

"Wow, it's really gooey."

Punisuke became visibly like a melted slime.

It reminded me of homemade slime I made in elementary school. It was that close to being liquid.

It seems like it could mimic a puddle.

"Thanks. In this state, do you take damage?"

"Yes. The core isn't protected, so it's very painful."

"I see. Slimes have cores, right?"

"That's right! It's a weakness."

I remember now, all slimes die instantly if you crush their core.

But since the core is the same color as the body, you can't tell where it is in the slime's body. In the end, for slimes at least, it's easier to blast them away with magic than to search for and crush the core.

We need to make sure Punisuke can't be easily blasted away.

"Then Punisuke, can you become hard instead?"

"Hard? I think I can, but I won't be able to move..."

Punisuke's energy dropped.

As I thought. Slimes don't have limbs and move as a fluid body, so if they harden or increase their elasticity too much, they can't move.

Elasticity control is probably a skill slimes acquire for the purpose of becoming softer.

...But that's not all it can do.

"Hey Punisuke, can you make just the surface of your body hard?"

"Yes! It's easy!"

"Then, can you make your surface hard and the layer just below it soft?"

"I'll try... I did it!"

"Oh, can you move in that state?"

"Hngh, hngh"

It's wriggling around. It's slow, but it can move.

When I touch it, the surface is hard.

"Punisuke, try lowering the elasticity of the surface a bit more. Also, can you change the direction of the elasticity?"

"Elasticity...? I'm sorry, Master, I don't understand well."

"Ah, right. Elasticity is the property of returning to its original shape when force is applied. The force that bounces back when pushed from the direction of elasticity is called elasticity. Right now, Punisuke, you're directing your body's elasticity in all directions, but I want you to consciously direct it only outwards."

"I don't really understand, but... I'll try my best."

"The image is that you repel stimuli from the outside, but keep your body's internal movements soft. Since it's elasticity control, it should be different from hardening, and elasticity has a vector, so I think you can manipulate that too."

It might be difficult since it's physical arts knowledge, but this is a slime with 1580 intelligence. If it can do this, it should be able to balance defense and mobility.

Punisuke is wriggling around, trying it out. I can hear its desperate voice.

"Mmm~ mmm~"

"Well, it's okay if you can't do it right away. Practice every day."

"I understand. I'll do my best."

Punisuke returned to its original state, seeming a bit tired.

For now, I've grasped the performance of gigantification and elasticity control. For Punisuke with its low status, we need to focus on increasing defense with elasticity control first.

From what I felt earlier, at maximum elasticity increase, it had a hardness that wouldn't be damaged by an iron sword. It should be able to fight unharmed against ordinary monsters.

"We'll leave temperature control for later... Punisuke, I think transformation is a skill where you can freely change your shape, but could it be that when you were wrapped around Elen's leg, that was you using tentacles?"

"Is this a skill?"

Several tentacles emerge from Punisuke's body, wriggling.

When I offer my fingertip, it happily wraps around it.

How cute.

"Mm, me too."

Elen, unable to resist, starts playing with Punisuke's tentacles.

Come to think of it, when I went to the sea as a child, I remember playing by sticking my fingers into sea anemones. Ignorance is scary; I was lucky it wasn't poisonous.

...Anyway.

"Normal slimes don't change much from a sphere shape, so this must be a skill. I think you can change your shape more freely."

"I understand. But I don't really know how to do it."

"I see. Then why don't you try sharpening the tips of your tentacles, or increasing their number? Remember well the feeling of doing what you usually do and when you change it, then recall that to use it for other things."

"I understand! I'll try!"

Punisuke follows my instructions and gradually makes the tips of its tentacles thinner.

Although not quite as sharp as a spear tip, it managed to make them about as thin as a Tonburi corn. Skillfully, all the tentacles it extended became thin in the same way.

Or maybe it's not skillful enough to change them individually.

"Puha~~~"

That seems to be its limit.

When Punisuke relaxed, the tentacles retracted back into its body.

This too will improve with practice. Combined with elasticity control, I feel it could become quite a powerful weapon.

Even a slime can become formidable depending on its intelligence and skills.

"Alright, Punisuke, I want you to practice these elasticity control and transformation skills every day when you have time. Let's get stronger together, defeat lots of monsters, and get delicious food!"

"Food! I'll do my best!"

And thus, unexpectedly, I gained my first disciple.