The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

We ended up having dinner together with Mererosu.

I wanted to ask her for recommendations on good places to eat, but it seems Mererosu had also just arrived in this town today on her travels. In the end, we entered a tavern in the central district that looked safe and had them arrange a private room for us.

Huh? Mererosu is hesitating.

"R-Ruruk-kun. Private rooms are expensive, aren't they?"

"It's not a problem. I learned about the general prices in Stoania."

I have friends who are usually useless but become suddenly reliable when it comes to alcohol and taverns.

It seems private rooms serve as a kind of social venue for merchants and nobles. Most of them are on the second floor of restaurants, and often come with dedicated waiters. Of course, they wait outside the room until called, so you can have private conversations too.

The room we were shown to was a standard private room. The table was large, and there was even a carpet. The atmosphere was more like a restaurant than a tavern, but the menu was still the same as the tavern's, so it was charming in its own way.

"But, um... it's hard to say, but I don't have much money on me..."

"I invited you, so of course I'll pay."

"No, that's not right. I can't let someone younger than me treat me."

"What are you saying? If you start saying things like that, all humans will end up being younger than you. Besides, look, our kids here don't hold back at all, so please order freely, Mererosu-san."

The young girls and the slime were ordering one thing after another from the menu to the waiter.

They're all incarnations of appetite, so it's satisfying to watch them order.

"That's true, but... somehow it doesn't sit right with me."

Mererosu looked unsatisfied. Even that face is beautiful.

To begin with, we were the top dungeon conquerors in Stoania. In Stoania's society, where ability was everything regardless of race or age, we often treated our friends to drinks and meals.

Rather, it's been quite a while since someone hesitated because of age, so it felt a bit fresh.

I also ordered what I wanted to eat. To make sure Mererosu doesn't hold back, I ordered quite a lot. Thanks to that, Mererosu, albeit reluctantly, was ordering various things.

After continuing some small talk for a while, the food was brought in and placed on the table, almost overflowing. I was a bit worried if we could finish it all, but well, Punisuke can eat almost infinitely due to being a slime, so there probably won't be any leftovers.

Someone's stomach growls.

That was the signal.

"Let's eat!"

"Mm, eat."

"Thank you for the meal."

"Eat, nano~!"

Everyone seemed quite hungry, and they started digging into the food without looking sideways.

By the way, only Mererosu ordered alcohol, while we minors are having fruit water. Saaya and Elenora always want to drink alcohol, but I'm strict about that.

No underage drinking, absolutely.

"But Ruruk-kun, I didn't know slimes could eat like that. I've lived for over 120 years and this is the first time I've seen it."

"Eh? Punisuke is a bit special."

Because it's extending tentacles and skillfully holding a knife and fork, cutting the meat and then shoving it into its body to dissolve and eat it.

Mererosu, who thinks this is normal for slimes, might be a bit naive...

Of course, this is the way of eating I instructed. It's practice for the transformation skill, so I have it practice fine movements on a daily basis. Eventually, I intend to teach it to use chopsticks and even cook, so I'm not satisfied with just this.

Aiming to be the world's first cooking slime. Though I don't know if such an evolution path exists.

"It's special enough that a slime can talk, but even its way of eating is special. ...Is it really a slime? Is there no possibility it's a new species of monster?"

"It's properly a slime. It's just that its intelligence is incredibly high, so it can use words and tools. Other than that, it's a normal slime. Right, Punisuke?"

"That's right, nano! I'm a normal slime, nano!"

"I see. If you say so, then it must be true."

Seeming to be convinced, she didn't ask any more about Punisuke. Well, the fact that it can talk already means it's not a normal slime.

More importantly, I need to properly explain about Elenora to Mererosu.

"About Elenora, you might have guessed already, but she's not human."

"I thought so. She looks completely human to me... Don't tell me, is this mystical arts?"

"Yes. Elenora."

"Mm."

I feel bad for making her stop eating, but I should explain while the waiter isn't here.

As Elenora took off her robe, her true form was reflected in Mererosu's eyes.

"Oh! Unexpectedly, a sheep-person!"

"Thank you, Elenora."

"Mm."

Elenora puts her robe back on. Now that Mererosu has recognized her correctly once, she should be able to see her as a sheep-person from now on.

It seems this was Mererosu's first time seeing a sheep-person, as she looked somewhat excited.

"I've heard rumors, but they really are adorable. How old is Elenora-chan? I heard sheep-people have about half the lifespan of elves."

"That seems to be about right for their lifespan. Elenora is 22 now, so she'll be an adult in 3 more years."

"She's still a minor, huh. Ah, that's why you said you don't let her drink alcohol."

"That's right. There are no adults in our party, so we're strict about that."

"You're very serious. Come to think of it, that person you said was your master, with the unknown identity... No, it might be wiser not to ask about that. Sorry."

"It's fine. We've said our goodbyes recently, but he's not dead. Rather, it's like we're of one mind, or how should I put it..."

"Haha, you really respect your master. That's a good thing."

She didn't seem to think we had literally become of one mind. Well, of course not.

From there, Mererosu's interest shifted to the black-haired twin-tailed girl who was fighting over meat with Elenora.

"And Saaya-chan, was it? You're human, right?"

"That's right. Saaya Schreine, human, 10 years old. Heir to the Schreine viscount family and a rookie adventurer, that's about all the titles I have... Ah! Elenora, that's the one I cut!"

"Mm, thanks."

"Geez, you're so unfair! Ruruk, there's a bad child here! Scold her properly!"

"Now, now, Elenora, make sure to chew properly before swallowing."

"That's not the point!?"

Saaya looks extremely frustrated even though there's still plenty of similar meat left. Does she get that attached to meat she cut herself... Appetite is scary.

"Well, anyway, we're operating under the name [Rozewill] with me, Elenora, Saaya, and Punisuke. Our party rank is B, but we're focusing on training Saaya and Punisuke for a while, so we don't plan to do much party activity."

"I see. Well, that's good. You have a long road ahead."

"Why is Mererosu-san in this town? I remember you said you were going back to your homeland before, right?"

We should have parted ways just before Stoania Kingdom last time.

Whether she went through the Bargia Dragon Duchy or the Maguu Empire, she headed to the Lunera Great Forest in the north of the two great nations 4 years ago. If she's been traveling all this time, it makes sense for her to be here, but I remember her saying she left the adventurer party she was working with.

To my simple question, Mererosu answered with a wry smile.

"It's embarrassing, but I went back home only to have a big fight with my parents. So I left home again and restarted my adventurer work. I've been based in Bargia, and I came to Restamia for a small quest. I'm on my way back now."

"So Bargia is your base? We're planning to go to Bargia too, which part of Bargia are you in?"

The largest nation on the continent is incredibly vast.

It has more than five times the territory of the relatively large Mataisa Kingdom, so saying "Bargia" could mean anywhere from near the great forest in the north to here in Restamia in the south.

It's about the same distance from east to west, so just crossing it normally takes several months.

"I'm renting a room in the dragon capital, Foosu. I'm sharing a room with a dwarf though."

"Foosu, that's the central city of Bargia, right?"

"Yeah. It's incredibly large."

"Larger than the capital of Stoania?"

"Yes. Just in terms of area, it's probably no less than 10 times larger."

That's amazing.

Even in Stoania, the theory-magic powerhouse, we needed to travel by steam train because of its size, but this is 10 times that. It must be at least as big as the 23 wards of Tokyo, right? Well, it's probably tiny compared to the whole country...

Since we're planning to stay in Bargia anyway, let's visit. It might be good for us to make it our base too.

Sensing this idea, Saaya and Elenora jumped on it.

"Are we going to the dragon capital? Does that mean we can meet real dragons?"

"Mm, dragon slaying."

"No, we probably won't meet any, and stop with the slaying."

Bargia is a country that worships the Dragon King.

Even Mererosu broke into a cold sweat and smiled wryly at Elenora's usual muscle-brained response.

"Well, Elenora-chan could probably easily win against lower-ranked dragons... But the only dragon I've heard of outside the holy land right now is the Dragon Princess. But she's a princess, so I don't think we can meet her."

"Ah, I've heard rumors about that. They say she's quite selfish."

"That's the rumor. Of course, I've never met her either, but I often hear she's quite an unusual dragon."

I don't think we should blindly believe rumors, but it's true that she had gained quite a bit of resentment from the villagers during the previous Almiraj extermination.

I don't think we'll accidentally meet her in the middle of the city, but let's live modestly as normal adventurers when we get to Bargia.

I don't want to raise any weird flags.

"So Ruruk-kun, are you planning to head straight to Bargia from here?"

"Yes. We plan to stop at the town just before the border for Saaya's transport quest."

"Yeah, yeah, there are no settlements around there, so whether you go by horse or on foot, you have to stop there once or you'll end up camping out continuously. I'm planning to stop there too, even without a quest, because I'm solo and on foot, so I want to rest when I can definitely rest. If you're going together, I'd feel safer... Since we're at it, why don't we form a temporary party?"

"Ah~ About that, Mererosu-san."

It's a bit hard to say, but I should say it now.

Given how the situation has lined up, it's a foregone conclusion that we'll travel together to Bargia.

"Of course we'd like to travel together, but actually, we move faster between towns than normal adventurers. So rather, we'd like you to come with us."

"Is that so? Did you rent horses?"

"It's teleportation."

"...Eh?"

I said it again to Mererosu, who looked dumbfounded.

"Saaya and I can use teleportation mystical arts. We can't go as far as the horizon in one go, but from a place with a good view, we can instantly teleport about half an hour's walking distance. So if we use it multiple times, we can move from town to town in half a day. That's why we'd like you to teleport with us too, Mererosu-san, but..."

"......"

"Huh? Mererosu-san? Mererosu-san?"

...It's no good, there's no response. She's like a corpse.

Then Saaya shrugged her shoulders and said exasperatedly,

"You know, Ruruk, teleportation is classified as forbidden magic if it's a magical technique. Of course normal people would react like this."

"But relative transfer is for short distances, right? The forbidden magic is about long-distance teleportation."

"That's true, but in general terms, it's not about the distance but the technique itself. Sure, you might think it's normal because you were that person's disciple for a long time, but... this is how normal people react."

Is it that big a deal?

I mean, I understand that teleportation is special, but still.

But if you say that, Elenora can use several forbidden techniques too, and she still intends to learn more.

Right, Elenora?

"Mm, leave it to me."

"Sigh, these senior disciples..."

A frozen Mererosu, an exasperated Saaya, a fired-up Elenora, and Punisuke silently continuing to eat.

And so, we formed a temporary party with Mererosu added to our group.