Eiro looked over at the two spirits that were turning the murky, dark green slime into a pure white version of itself while Eiro made sure to gather it all in a bowl of ice until the slime core was ready to get started.
Meanwhile, the Demon managed to properly capture the slime cores of two dozen slimes in bottles. Usually, what you were supposed to do was destroy the slime cores and gather the leftover, crystal-like substance as well as the small marble-like beads. They could easily be used in some different concoctions, apparently. And what Eiro was supposed to bring back for this request were all of those beads.
It was technically a pure extermination request, and even if it said that there would be a bonus reward the more intact the slime nuclei were. Usually Eiro would have wanted to actually split the beads off the nuclei so that the slime would be killed to gain some experience, but it didn't seem like these guys would give him enough experience to level up anyway.
That, and this was an investment. The request was for five swamp slimes, and Eiro already managed to perfectly capture nuclei accounting for nearly five times that. There were still more slimes around here, and even if Eiro didn't have any more bottles to keep them in. So, while Nelli and Gondos were refining the slime some more, Eiro started actually killing some of these slimes to just gather the beads.
Usually the slimes hid in crevices, underneath rocks, or inside of tree-stumps, making them rather hard to find, but Eiro was able to easily find them with just a twitch of his nose. And just as Eiro thought, even after actively killing two dozen more of these slimes, he didn't level up. It was a bit annoying, but at least Eiro should be closer to leveling up now, even if just a bit. So it was worth it to an extent, at least.
And so, with a small bag filled with the beads in his hand, Eiro returned to where the others were.
"I think we're ready now. If we refine it any more, then it's just going to turn into water." Nelli pointed out when she saw Eiro, and the Demon slowly nodded his head.
"Got it." Eiro said, and pulled the bottle with the slime core out of the satchel, trying to actually choose the right one instead of one of the other two dozen bottles in there, and then pulled out the cork while pouring the slime core onto his hand. In a complaining voice, it started to speak.
"Eh... never put me back in there, that's so fucking gruesome... How would you feel if I put you in a bag filled with a dozen Imp heads?" The slime asked, and Eiro slightly sighed, "Sorry. But screw that for now, just turn this into your own slime now."
With a quiet grumble, the slime said, "Fine. Just throw me in there, I guess." It told Eiro, who quickly did just that and placed the slime core in his hand into the translucent slime in the bowl made of ice.
A few moments later, the slime started shaking a bit and created waves, before it gathered in the center of the bowl and took a roughly humanoid shape, "Finally, a body again. Now, what do you want me to do? Turn into a human, animal... item?"
"First, how small can you turn?" Eiro asked, and the slime seemed rather annoyed before basically most of the slime was sucked into the core and it just turned into a small hummingbird, "This is the smallest I can go, but it's a bit fucked. If possible, I'd prefer something a bit bigger."
"Got it. Then for now, turn into the shape of a staff, but one that's wrapped in cloth so that nobody could actually see you and figure out you're not really a staff." Eiro said, and the hummingbird fell apart into white slime that immediately spread out and took exactly that shape. Eiro fine-tuned it a bit to make sure it actually looked right and didn't seem suspiciously big for his height, and then grabbed the cloth-wrapped staff and held it up to his back.
"Now add something like a strap so that I don't have to carry you." Eiro said, and he soon felt a leather-like strap wrap around his chest, "Good. When you want to speak to me, create a small mound on the inside of the strap around my shoulder, and I'll let you know when you can speak. Otherwise, stay quiet." The Demon said, and the slime just quickly replied, "Yo, got it, boss."
Confusedly, Eiro climbed on Lugo's back and looked at Nelli and Gondos, who were just as surprised, "Just curious, but why exactly are you being so... submissive?" Eiro asked, and the slime quickly replied.
"I dunno. Just being a core is fucked as shit, so now it feels a lot better and I'm not as mad anymore, right? And I somehow just don't feel like being an ass to you right now." The slime explained, and Eiro immediately had Nelli and Gondos move into the inbetween space so that they could have a 'proper' conversation, although Eiro would really just be nodding and shaking his head while the two spirits would be doing the speaking.
"So... Do you think it might have to do with the fact that we used your mana to refine the slime he uses as his body?" Nelli suggested, and Eiro thought about it for a while and then slowly nodded his head. That seemed to be possible, but Eiro also had something else he was thinking, which Gondos seemed to have been thinking as well, "He might also just be faking it to get Eiro to let his guard down and then either run away or kill Eiro."
Once more, the Demon nodded his head. That was exactly what he was thinking as well. And the problem was that, since the slime didn't have a regular body, it was near to impossible to figure out whether or not it was lying through the regular methods Eiro made use of in the past while.
In the end, there were different possibilities, but he definitely preferred the first one over anything else. Because if the slime became somehow attached to Eiro because of that, then that would definitely make things far, far easier for sure. Either way, for now, Eiro just had to continue on forward and soon returned to the gate to let him into the town's outer ring.
And once there, it didn't take long for Lugo to run all the way to the next gate as well. He was pretty quick, after all. And so, just a couple of hours after first taking the request, Eiro already returned and completed it literally ten times over. Actually, more than ten times over, since the full nuclei were worth much more than just the beads.
Eiro climbed off Lugo's back, quickly cleaned the stag's hoofs of the bit of mud and dirt that gathered on them in the swamp, and then pushed the Guild's doors open, heading straight for the desks on the other side of the room. The moment he saw Eiro, the employee that helped him before took over for his colleague so that he could speak to the Demon.
"Back so quick, I see? Did you change your mind? Listen, if you want, we can make an exception and let you get the help of other adventurers, alright? I know a few people that could help out." The employee said, waving over a group of three. The group of three that tried to 'Help out' Eiro before and gave him the tip with the branches. Even if he didn't make use of it.
"Yo. I know we're all just D-Rank, but I'm sure we can help you out a bit." The warrior, Donny, said with a broad smile, and Eiro just shook his head.
"Thanks, but I won't need your help." He pointed out and pushed his hand into the satchel to pull out the bag with the two-dozen slime beeds, and then, with two hands at a time, pulled out the two-dozen glass bottles holding all the whole slime nuclei.
"25 of each." Eiro explained, and the employee confusedly looked at all of the bottles and beads in the bag, "B-But... But how..." He muttered, not having expected this at all, and Eiro slowly snapped his fingers and had Nelli appear beside him. She quickly created some magic water, that Eiro then turned into ice bolts floating around his hand.
"I know I may not look like it, but I would say I'm a rather skilled mage." The Demon pointed out, "With the right magic, it's easy to split off the cores off the slime bodies. Seems like I have the right magic."
"R-Right... But... Sorry, we need some sort of way to verify that this is legitimate. It seems a bit unlikely that you would be able to finish off, or even find, that many Swamp Slimes in this short amount of time. Even getting to the swamp takes an hour."
With an annoyed sigh, Eiro shook his head, "With my familiar, it takes twenty minutes. And slime-cores hold magic, making it rather easy for spirits to find them using their magic perception. But if that's not enough for you..." Eiro said, and then pushed his hand into his satchel, to once more hide the fact he was pulling something out of his treasury, before he placed Solomon's brooch down on the table, together with another item that Solomon handed him in correlation to his promise to fight in the tournament.
"I am backed by King Solomon Sigurd Skyhart, and have recently been chosen as his personal special candidate for the tournament next summer. The tournament to choose the Hero's companion." Eiro explained. The fact that he had the brooch had already been revealed anyway. He was pretty sure that some scouts were able to see him show it to the guards back then.
And the small pin that Solomon gave him for the tournament was a good way to prove that Eiro was strong enough for these things. He could have shown it before taking the request, but Eiro figured it was better this way. Like this, he was able to show the employee that he could easily beat numerous enemies seen as incredibly troublesome even to skilled adventurers to prove his own strength.
"...Huh..?" The employee muttered, "That... There's..." He slowly held his hand over both the brooch and the pin and pushed his mana into both of them, causing them to lightly glow, showing their validity.
"Excuse my rudeness! I will immediately process all of this!" The employee exclaimed and quickly went to get help from some other employees, before Eiro pushed the brooch and pin back into his treasury through his satchel, and then turned toward the three adventurers staring at him confusedly.
It seemed like Eiro's plan worked out perfectly.
