Sorry for the late release! Had a busy week, and didn't set enough time aside for this. Hopefully I'll plan things out right for next week.

Here's your half of a dragon!

Author: Kaburagi Haruka

Translator: s.h.i.+roiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Chapter 15: Meetup

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

The next morning, Master's face was a bit red.

It seems like whenever our eyes meet, he looks away. I probably messed with him a little too much last night.

When we're eating, it feels like he's paying a lot of attention to my lips… Especially when I'm sipping soup and stuff.

"anyway… Today's our first request, so let's brace ourselves for it, yeah?"

"Master Rimuru, strain yourself too much and you'll fail."

"I'll be fine. I won't have anything to do until someone gets hurt, after all."

"Raring to slack off, huh?"

"Call me a man who's useful in emergencies."

Master resolutely pointed at me with a fork stuck in a sausage, and made that odd declaration.

—He had so much manliness when he kept on healing in the face of the grand hedgehog yesterday. I wonder where that went?

While thinking that, with one big bite, I devour the sausage off the end of the fork.

A subtle charring on the outside, and just the right salting; delicious.

"Ah, my breakfast?!"

"I thought you were feeding me."

"Yeah right, as if!"

"Oh, fine… Here, say "ahh"."

With Master in a temper, I offer to feed him my helping of sausage.

Master hesitated for just a moment, but he docilely ate.

"chew, chew… Well, like I was saying. With what happened just yesterday, most of the chaos should be remaining, so we're taking this chance to get away from this city."

"Master Rimuru, why are you avoiding attention so much?"

"I have a lot of circ.u.mstances… Buying you was also because I don't want to stand out."

Partway through asking that question, Master's expression got kind of dark.

Was it something I shouldn't have asked…?

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

In front of the west gate, we approached the designated meeting place.

"Let's see, we're supposed to spot them by their blue flag… And three carriages."

"Master Rimuru, over there."

Where I pointed to were three carriages with blue flags raised high, and about ten adventurers.

The likely owners of the carriages, loading sizable boxes of clothes and tools, could also be seen.

"Good day. You're the Maxwell touring group, yes? We look forward to working with you."

"Hm? You're more adventurers who took the request then? Pretty impressive for how young you are. I'm the boss, Morgan Maxwell. We'll be counting on you."

Master had his usual good outward appearance up with his greeting, and the remarkably well-built middle-aged man responded in kind.

Last time it was Gosun; it feels like we've only been meeting older men lately.

"We only registered just yesterday. This is our first job, so we might make some mistakes, but—"

"Hah, that happens to everyone at first. Don't worry about it, just give us your best!"

Master had his back smacked a few times. The guy turned my way then, and took a long hard look at me.

Maybe he's upset that I didn't introduce myself?

"Ah, I'm Ei—"

"Who's she?"

"Oh, she's my… Slave. I'm a back-liner so I wanted someone for the front."

"Hrmm… Nice."

"Huh?"

Eh, what? What's "nice"? Don't tell me he's a lolicon?!

"That look is great! A young and fragile girl with an eye patch! It adds more to the look of fragility and weakness! And yet the mismatch with the active look from the miniskirt s.h.i.+nes through!"

"Ah? Eh…? Heh?"

"And then there's the covering on her left arm! The unrefined nature of it brings out even more charm from the unbalance!"

"Ummm?"

Uhh, this man seems to be talking up a storm in some language I don't understand.

The boss then turned back to Master—

"Are you the one who coordinated this?!"

"Ah, yes, it was, I guess?"

"Would you like to try doing costuming with us?"

"… I'm very sorry, but I have things to do."

"Could you not try to headhunt my Master?"

Master's refusal and my rebuff must have brought him back to his senses; Mr. Morgan apologized in reply.

"Whoops, really sorry. The novel outfit must have gotten me a little too fired up. Well, I won't push you for it, but I'd be happy if you considered it."

"Yes, if I'm ever having food trouble, then I might put myself in your care."

"That's worrying in its own way! Well anyway, we have luggage to move, so you mind standing by for a while?"

"Shall we help? In spite of her looks, Eir is pretty strong."

"Nah, that's… Humm… Actually, sure, I'll take you up on that."

"Leave it to us. Eir?"

"Yes, I'll get right on it."

I think Master is probably being considerate of my slight shyness.

While I was following Mr. Morgan's orders to carry the luggage, Master went around greeting the other adventurers.

I was told to help the people carrying the big boxes, so I run over.

"Oh, gonna help us little lady?"

"Yes, I'm strong."

"Ahaha, how reliable. I'm in charge of the props; the name's Moto, nice to meet ya."

"Eir, Master Rimuru's slave."

"Slave… That's not so gentle a life, huh."

"A lot happened, but I'm not unhappy, okay?"

"That's good then… Guess you've been blessed with a good master."

"Yeah, Master Rimuru is kind."

"Glad to hear it. Well then, if I wanna be happy too, we're gonna have to get this thing taken care of!"

Saying that, he pointed to a one meter large wooden box.

"It's got props in it, but I've been flummoxed with it because it's so hard to carry. If you can just add a little support—Geh."

As soon as I easily lifted it with just my left arm, he made the kind of sound you'd hear when squis.h.i.+ng a frog.

Rather than lifting it with just my left arm… My left arm is the only way I could lift it.

"That's amazing, little lady."

"My left arm is the strong one."

"What about your right?"

"About average maybe? Probably a little weaker."

"Don't see that every day… One of them gifts?"

"Something like that."

"In any case, this is a huge help. Keep it up!"

"Will do."

Following Moto's instructions, I gradually load up the luggage.

While doing that, the actors and stuff had their eyes glued on me, and I got sweets too. Delicious.

Giving me treats is fine and all, but it's a little troubling when the try to pat my head. They're gonna find out I have a horn on my forehead.

"No patting my head. For religious reasons."

"Aww, no way. That smooth hair looks like it would feel so good, too."

"Miss, your hair is smoother though?"

"Patting my own head isn't going to make me happy. Oh, my name's Carla. Carla Naim. A pleasure."

"Eir. Pleasure."

"Eir… The name of the water G.o.d. Pretty nice."

"Master Rimuru gave it to me."

At my words, Carla's eyes opened wide.

"Eh? Gave it to you, meaning… Rimuru is that boy over there, right? What was your name before?"

"Forgot. Got caught in a volcanic eruption, and a lot happened."

"I see… Poor thing. If you're ever in trouble, come and talk to me. Not sure if I'll be able to help or not though."

"Thanks, I'll do that."

Once I showed my grat.i.tude, Carla slowly wrapped me in an embrace.

"Oh goodness! Boss! This girl is adorable, can I keep her?"

"Would you cut that out?!"

What is this person saying…? It sounds like there may have been some precedent too, which is scary.

"Seriously, what's with you?! We're a traveling theater troupe, and yet you go pick up a cat, you go pick up a dog, you go pick up a bear… Knock it off already!"

"Aww, what's the big deal? They're cute."

"I have no idea what sensibilities lead you to think man-eating grizzlies are cute!"

"n.o.body got hurt."

"Moto was chased around for an hour!"

There really was a history to this. And she's indiscriminate.

Having come up in the conversation, Moto glanced over and scratched his cheek with a bitter smile on his face.

"You were chased?"

"Ahh—, well… It happens all the time."

All the time?!

"Surprising you didn't get mad…"

"It's just the weakness of falling in love."

Oh-ho, and now we have the spark of romance!

At those words, I huge smile blooms on my face. Girls enjoy talking about love at any time.

"Ooh, what do you like about her? Is it mutual? Was there a confession?"

"Whoa, now you're talkative all of a sudden?!"

"It's a matter of greatest interest for maidens."

"Is it now? Well, I confessed, but… Well, she kinda dodged answering it."

"Hrm, but you weren't rejected, right?"

"Well no. That point in particular leaves me with some hope… But is there?"

This guy doesn't get it!

"There is! I mean, she should turn you down if it's a no."

"Really? I'd be happy if you're right."

I continued working during that heated conversation, and before I knew it the loading was over.

After thanking Moto, I returned to Master's side to see two adventurers conversing with him.

That's…

"Amy!"

Overjoyed at the reunion, I ended up hugged her.

While wobbling under the momentum, she hugs me back.

"Eir, long time no see!"

"What happened? I thought you were gonna go into the labyrinth?"

"Come on, I told you I realized my lack of power for that."

"Then you're joining in on this request."

"Of course, that's the plan."

"Hooray!"

I joyously display a full-faced smile, then move my gaze over to the other person.

This time I don't even try to hide my displeasure.

"So, why's this here?"

"Don't call me "this"!"

Kevin was there.

Unfortunately, Master's magic fully restored his limbs.

"I… I got carried away yesterday, and was beside myself with joy. But it didn't just end with that."

"Which means, sure enough…?"

"Two wyvern slaying requests, one for gryphon slaying, plus there was eyewitness info of a nearby black dragon, so there was an investigation one for that. They've been coming in all morning."

"That's… Even harder requests than I expected."

"Even if I took down a disaster beast, taking on those kinda requests alone is certain death!"

"My condolences. Which means you beat it?"

In response to Master's question, Kevin stuck his chest out enough to practically bend backwards.

"That's what ended up happening I guess. I don't recall anything past a certain point, so can't really say I know, but apparently it was a hard struggle with the grand hedgehog."

"Ahh—…"

We can't really say "that's a lie we spat out" at this point.

Well, glad he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take down a wyvern.

After killing time chatting like that for a bit, a person from an adventurer party came over.

"You guys, looks like we're heading out soon. We're gonna do introductions and decide how we're splitting things up, mind coming over?"

"Ah, right. Sorry to trouble you."

"Coming right oveeer."

Master and Amy respond sociably. Kevin… Huffed, then silently started walking.

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

The adventurers partic.i.p.ating in this request are two parties plus four people.

"Crimson" is a party of six yellow ranks, and "Moonlight" is a five person orange party.

Then there's me, Master, Amy, and Kevin joining in to make fifteen.

"So anyway, we're all yellow rank, but we're still "Crimson". Nice to meet you all."

"We're "Moonlight". We're still beginners who've only been adventuring for about a year, but we'll do our part."

Crimson mixed a bit of a joke into their introduction, and Moonlight felt like they were putting up a bit of a front.

It feels like they've got experience to spare in this area.

"My name's Amy. I'm an orange rank in my first year too. Looking forward to working with you."

"I'm Rimuru, a novice who just registered yesterday, and I can use healing magic. This is my slave Eir, who handles the front lines."

"Name's Kevin. Got green rank yesterday."

Hearing Kevin introduce himself, our surroundings went astir.

"The "Disaster Beast Slayer" Kevin, huh."

"We've got a big one with us. What are you doing taking a request like this?"

"Oh wow, I got to see him in person."

Those kinds of comments bubble up here and there. So he's getting this much special treatment…? I'm kind of glad we put it all on him.

"Working with the "Disaster Beast Slayer" is an honor. Now, about dividing us up…"

"We're a perfect five person group, so we'd like it if we can move as a unit."

The first one to make a suggestion was Moonlight's leader.

"Yeah, I was thinking of proposing that anyway; that'll be good. The problem is the remaining two… Alright, how about we lend out one from our group to move with you four?"

"As far as manpower goes, we'd appreciate that."

"I can't do it since I'm leader, so… What are each of your jobs?"

"Like I mentioned before, I'm a healer. I stay in the back."

"I'm an attacker at the front."

Hearing my role, the leader looked surprised.

"That's quite the task for how thin you look."

"Eir's pretty amazing. Oh, I'm a flame magician. So I'm in the back."

"I'm—"

"We've all heard of Kevin. Which means, I guess you're a little short on defense?"

"We can actually leave that to Eir."

In response to Master's opinion, Crimson's leader got a sour look on his face.

"Whatever the case may be, that equipment isn't…"

"We brought a large s.h.i.+eld we us, so she can do it just fine. Plus she's fast."

"Hrm… In that case, we'll send over a magician. Specialty is water magic, so it shouldn't be a bad combo. I'd like Kevin to take the leader role."

"Ahh, well, rank-wise that makes sense."

Master's expression is saying "well c.r.a.p."

The leader being chosen with such a quick decision is sure to be unnerving, but that's the only point to reasonably object on.

Not knowing the circ.u.mstances, Amy naturally agrees.

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

And so, along with a bit of unease, our journey began.