“Summoner, I have a question. What are we doing at the mine today?”
Liqueur inquired about their purpose for visiting the mine that day.
It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t yet informed the children of our objective for going to the mine.
“We’re going to mine a thousand stones.”
“…A thousand stones?”
“Yes, we need a thousand stones and one tree to build Dragon Lady’s house this time. That’s why we’re heading to the mine.”
“Wait a minute. You need a thousand stones, and you were planning to mine them all by yourself, Summoner unnie? And you intended to do it all in a single day?!”
Upon hearing the reason, Seokyung asked if I had planned to do it alone that day.
“Well… I wasn’t planning to do it all in one day, but… I did intend to mine them by myself, didn’t I?”
“…You weren’t actually thinking you could bring back a thousand stones by yourself, were you?”
“…I’ll decline to comment on that.”
Now that I thought about it, could I really have mined a thousand stones alone? No, even if I had, could I have carried all those heavy stones back?
Most likely, I wouldn’t have been able to carry even a hundred, let alone a thousand.
“Alright, alright, let’s not worry about that and just go mine some stones.”
In situations like this, it’s best to simply pursue the original objective. Then there would be no reason to be scolded.
‘No reason to be scolded, huh…’
“…Summoned beings who can read minds like you are truly frightening.”
That is, if Seokyung hadn’t read my thoughts.
“Summoner unnie…”
“Saessak, could you please not look at me with that expression? It hurts, you know.”
“Then perhaps you should feel a little hurt.”
“Hmph.”
“What’s with ‘Hmph,’ a grown adult like you?”
“…It is ‘Hmph’.”
“…Pfft.”
“What? Why are you laughing at me?”
Liqueur burst into laughter after hearing my ‘It is ‘Hmph’.’
“Even if it sounded strange, laughing at me is too much… That was mean…”
“No… I wasn’t laughing at you, but because it was cute…”
“…What? Cute? Liqueur, what are you talking about?”
“It’s true. Summoner, you were cute just now.”
…Her excuse seemed rather odd. In what way was I cute?
Well, whatever. It didn’t seem like she was genuinely laughing at me, so I decided to let it go.
“Now that we’ve arrived, we should go in…?”
There was a padlock on the entrance, wasn’t there?
No, which mine even puts a door on its entrance in the first place?
“Unnie, you didn’t forget the key, did you?”
“Ah, that… well… I forgot to bring it… Haha… I’ll be right back. Just wait a li—”
“I opened the padlock!”
“…How did you open it?”
“I picked it with my hand? Like this.”
Did she mean she picked the lock by shaping her hand like a key…?
While it was helpful in this situation, still…
“Picking a lock like that could hurt you…”
“…Summoner, I know I’m in human form right now, but you haven’t forgotten I’m a slime, have you? There’s no way this could hurt me.”
“What if you can’t turn back to normal?”
“Oh, no way! I can always turn back to normal like this… Huh? Why isn’t my thumb reappearing…?”
“…Let me see the padlock.”
We spent thirty minutes in front of the mine entrance trying to extract Liqueur’s thumb from the padlock.
“Be careful next time.”
“Yes…”
After giving Liqueur a word of caution, I entered the mine and gathered the equipment.
Oh, at the mine entrance, not only pickaxes but also miner’s helmets and safety suits were all provided.
…I shouldn’t have bothered bringing a pickaxe.
“Huh, this helmet seems a bit off.”
“Oh? What’s wrong with it?”
“The light doesn’t seem to be working well… This much is probably fine, right?”
“No, use another one. What if it goes out halfway through?”
“Do we really need to wear helmets? I can just create a small flame on my fingertip.”
“Seokyung, helmets aren’t just for visibility. They’re for safety.”
True to her fire attribute, Seokyung wanted to create fire to secure visibility.
I understood that helmets were uncomfortable, but we had to wear them to protect our heads in case rocks fell from above.
Besides, if gas came out and ignited, it could explode… Ah, but that probably wouldn’t happen, would it?
“Anyway, it’s for safety, so make sure you wear it.”
“Okay…”
“Um, Summoner unnie…”
“Hm? Saessak, why are you—”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Because where Saessak pointed, there was a massive swarm of bugs.
“…Seokyung, burn them with fire.”
“N-no?! Burn *those*?! Even if I can create fire, bugs are too much for me!!”
I asked Seokyung, but she refused, saying bugs were beyond her.
But I detested bugs too.
“Saessak, keep the door open.”
“Uh, huh? Why the door?”
“I’m going to handle it. Just in case, we need an escape route.”
“Liqueur? What on earth are you planning to do?”
“Couldn’t I just spray water and drown them?”
Spray water to drown them…?
“Don’t overexert yourself trying to kill them…!”
“It’s fine. Killing those bugs isn’t what I’d call overexerting myself.”
Saying it was fine, Liqueur began to spray water from her hands.
But… wasn’t too much coming out?
“Liqueur?! Aren’t you overdoing it?!”
“Huh? Didn’t I show you last time?”
“I think you filled a thousand liters that time too… but this is even more than that?!”
“Unnie, it’s okay. The amount of water Liqueur can create is enough to form a river by herself.”
Enough to form a river by herself…?
Liqueur… was a child of much water, it seemed.
****
Perhaps because I mined the stones with the children, we finished earlier than expected.
“Phew, thanks to you all, we finished quickly.”
“I think the idea of mining a thousand stones by yourself was flawed from the start.”
“…Saessak, sometimes, telling the truth can be cruel.”
“H-honestly, Summoner, I do think you were a bit too complacent…”
“I agree too…”
“…You’re all so mean.”
There was no need to say that! No need to deliberately hurt my feelings!
“Still, thanks to all of you, we finished quickly. Thank you, kids.”
“Oh… it’s nothing much…”
“Exactly! We can always help you, Summoner!”
“Hehe, if you ever need help, just call us.”
My children, telling me to call them anytime. How thoughtful.
“Next time, let’s not go to the mine…”
“…Yes, that would be for the best.”
“I had no idea there would be so many bugs in the mine…”
There were an unbelievably dense swarm of bugs; it was so bad that I often swung my pickaxe, thinking I was hitting a rock, only for it to be a clump of bugs.
The memory of those bugs scattering always sent shivers down my spine.
I went with the children to the designated spot for Dragon Lady’s new home and placed the thousand stones there.
“You all worked hard. Go on in and rest.”
“Um, Summoner… what exactly are you planning to do about that one tree?”
“…That’s what I’m still figuring out. This isn’t Animal Crossing (TL Note: A popular life simulation video game where players can build and decorate homes and interact with anthropomorphic animal villagers.), after all. How am I supposed to put one whole tree in?”
“…What’s Animal Crossing?”
“It’s a thing.”
It’s a game you wouldn’t know about.
“Haa, is there really any way to do this…”
“Hmm… I just thought of a good idea!”
“Oh? What is it?”
“Please wait a moment, I’ll be right back!”
Saessak, claiming to have a good idea, ran off somewhere.
About ten minutes later, she returned with Phoenix.
“Saessak asked me to help you, Summoner, so I came. What’s going on?”
“…Saessak, that ‘good idea’ wouldn’t happen to be…”
“It’s probably exactly what you’re thinking, Summoner.”
“…Phoenix, could you perhaps pull out just one tree for me?”
“…What? One tree?”
I explained the situation to Phoenix.
“…So, you need one tree to build a house for a summoned being called Dragon Lady…?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm… The material storage definitely seems unusually large compared to other houses, doesn’t it?”
“Anyway, could I ask you for this favor?”
“Alright. That’s a simple task.”
Declaring it a simple task, Phoenix flew high into the sky, grabbed a nearby tree with their hand, pulled it right out, and carried it back.
“…Phoenix is incredibly strong.”
“Indeed… Honestly, I didn’t think they could do it either.”
Saessak, did you just call them without thinking it through?
Well, it’s resolved now, so isn’t that a good thing?
In any case, the preparations to welcome Dragon Lady were finally complete.
“We’ll be heading back now. Send us pictures of Dragon Lady!”
“Okay, go home safely.”
“Now, shall I go bring Dragon Lady?”
By the way, there was a reason the Wandering Merchant called Dragon Lady’s house a ‘habitat’.
It truly looked exactly like a lair where real dragons lived.
‘Perhaps ‘nest’ would be more accurate than ‘habitat’?’
Anyway, shall I finally go see the real Dragon Lady now?
I already knew what a baby dragon, a hatchling, looked like from seeing the Wandering Merchant’s Dragon Lady back then, but what would the human form of Dragon Lady feel like?
I was truly looking forward to it.
“Ah, there you are. Hello? Nice to meet you. I’m the Summoner who summoned you.”
“Kyuu! Kyuu-kyuu-kyuu!”
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you too? I look forward to our time together?”
“Kyuu-uuu!!”
Yes, her lively demeanor was incredibly cute.
“Now, I’ll first take you to your new home.”
“Kyuu?”
“Yes, it’s a home for our Lady.”
“Kyuu! Kyuu!”
Dragon Lady was absolutely delighted at the mention of her own home.
“Here you go.”
“Kyuu-uu-uu-uuu!!”
“Yes, yes, I’m glad you like it.”
Dragon Lady roared, making ‘Kyuu-uuu’ sounds.
Now, I needed to give her a name… Hmm…
Naming is always so difficult, isn’t it?
“Kyuu?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something else for a moment. I’m not angry, so don’t worry and just play.”
“Kyuu!”
Perhaps my expression looked displeased, as Dragon Lady asked if I was in a bad mood.
She looked a little scared; was my mood really that bad…?
“Name… what should I name her…”
I pondered names while watching Dragon Lady play.
“…Alright, let’s go with Deun.”
I decided on a name that was both cute and dragon-like.
“Deun, this is your name.”
“Kyuu!!”
She seemed to like it. How adorable.
