A Serious Matter

‘Wait a minute. There will be no fruit-picking today.’

‘What!’

‘We can’t eat any fruits!?’

As soon as I said this, they started to protest.

Not only that, but they continued to move towards the mountain.

I could probably force them to stop if I used my Tamer skill…

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But I felt a little bad for them.

Maybe I should ask.

‘Baozard. I want to enter your territory to pick some fruits… Would it be alright?’

‘The fruits? Yes, come and help yourself. You and your slimes saved my life. I have no right to complain, even if you ate every single one.’

‘…Are you sure?’

‘Aye. I never asked them to protect the fruits in the first place. After all, animals that eat the fruits and grow will taste just the same as the animals that eat grass and grow.’

I see.

So as far as Baozard was concerned, it wasn’t a problem.

The problem was, would the town’s residents see it the same way?

‘But even you allow it, I’m not sure that the people here would forgive us…’

‘Hmm… That may be true.’

If the fruits disappeared from the forest, they would suspect me immediately.

After all, I had tamed numerous slimes. This was information that the guild was very much aware of.

And I was also a stranger to this town. So there would not be many other suspects.

‘Very well. I will do something.’

As Baozard said this…a loud rumble could be heard from the nearby mountain.

When I looked towards it, I saw that Baozard was flying towards us.

“It’s the Dragon God!”

“The Dragon God has come!”

“But the town hasn’t even been attacked by monsters… Has this ever happened before?”

When they saw Baozard flying, the town became very excited.

The owner of the vegetable store, the people drinking, all of them were looking up and then bowing their heads.

Uh…was I supposed to do that too?

As I wondered about this, I heard Baozard’s voice.

“Do you hear me, people of the town?”

“Of course, we do. Lord Dragon God!”

A well-dressed man answered Baozard.

He was probably the landlord.

Wait a minute… So, Baozard was able to talk in the human language?

“I am greatly pleased that you are celebrating my return. …However, may I ask you all one more favor?”

“It-it would be an honor! There would be no greater joy than to be of use to you, Lord Dragon God! Ask anything of us!”

Upon hearing the man’s words, Baozard looked so happy that he seemed like he would start jumping up and down.

Baozard really was worshipped here.

“There is a young man with slimes in this town, is there not?”

Baozard asked the bowing man.

And then…the people immediately started to mutter to each other.

“A young man with slimes…?”

“I didn’t hear anything about that. Where is he?”

“It is the Lord Dragon God’s command! Hurry up and find him!”

And with that, the people started to search for the ‘young man with the slimes.’

I doubted there was anyone who fit that description besides me.

“There he is! It’s him!”

“Surround him!”

The people of the town all pointed at me at once.

And before I knew it, they had all gathered around me.

“Could it be…that it was his fault that the Dragon God went missing?”

“How dare he… Lord Dragon God. Just give us the order and we will do it!”

Apparently, they had thought that Baozard was looking for the culprit.

If Baozard said, ‘kill him,’ all of their attacks would come at me at once.

‘Hey… I did ask you to do something. But isn’t this a little much?’

I complained to Baozard through my Tamer Skill, ‘Monster Mutual Understanding.’

Was it really necessary for me to be surrounded like this just to get permission to pick some fruit?

‘Sorry. I didn’t think that telling them to find you would result in all of this ruckus. I was just going to tell them not to catch you if they saw you picking the fruit…’