The World Is Overflowing with Monster, I’m Taking a Liking to This Life

I have incredibly good news.

After finishing my reply to Ichinose, I carefully inspected the Mail skill again, inch by inch.

And while I did not find a ‘Block Function,’ I did find something like a Silent Mode.

It would mean that I wouldn’t hear the voice in my head every time I received a new message.

Not only that, but I was able to use it at LV1. Wonderful.

I felt incredibly lucky as I quickly set the Skill to Silent Mode.

Now things would be a lot quieter in my head, and I would be able to relax a little more.

Ahh, that was good.

It’s important, isn’t it? Silent mode.

I mean, it’s pretty much a rule of society, to put your phone on silent mode when you are at a meeting or visiting important people.

It would be incredibly bad manners if you were negotiating with someone, and your phone rang, and you started talking on it right then and there.

Well, in any case, now I would be able to feel calmer when I travel.

Yes!

<<Your proficiency has reached a new level>>

<<The Mail skill has gone from LV1 to LV2>>

…

Uhh, I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear that.

My Mail skill is still LV1.

Yes, that is the truth.

<<You have reached the requirements>>

<<The Chat feature has been added to Mail>>

<<There is currently 1 registered person you can chat with>>

<<Do you wish to use chat now?>>

“…”

Wordlessly, I select ‘No.’

And then I check the Mail features.

…Hmm, yeah, it was there alright, this chat feature.

Damn it all!

Why did I have to gain a level right now!

It’s not right!

Why couldn’t I gain a level with something like Swordsmanship or Vitals Strike!

I’m using them as much as I can!

I’ll just look through the chat feature.

Oh, I can turn it on and off. Lucky me.

I turn it off without hesitation.

I see that there is already another ‘Unread’ message.

…That can wait.

Yes.

I don’t even want to look.

Now, I should return to exploring.

I pretended that I hadn’t seen a thing, and started walking again with Momo.

“There are a lot more rice paddies here…”

As we walked on for a while, we started seeing rice paddies.

This was on the outskirts of town, the corners really. So it wasn’t an unusual sight.

“It’s already May, the season to start planting.”

The rice paddies were full of water, and green rice plants were inside of it.

That being said, this rice would not grow any further than this.

There was no one left to take care of them.

But it was a nice view.

It healed my heart, which had been ravaged by Mail.

And the Unread message was scary to me. There were probably more stacking up even now…

“…Hmm?”

As I pondered this and gazed at the rice paddies, something caught my eye.

–It was a slime.

There was a slime floating languidly on the water.

There were a lot of them, actually.

I didn’t think they’d appear in a place like this as well.

Well, they didn’t even seem to be up to anything. They were just floating there.

They allowed the water to take them from one corner to the next. Occasionally, they would nibble on some of the plants.

How relaxing.

“Bark?”

What are you going to do? Momo asks me.

What can I do…

It’s too much trouble to fight them. I think I’ll just leave them be?

“…(shaking)”

As I thought this, Aka started to shake.

He turned back into his normal form and approached Momo.

What happened?

“…(shaking, shaking)”

Aka shook.

And then Momo nodded understandingly.

Huh? Were they having a conversation?

“Bark!”

Momo barked and then unleashed her shadow into the rice paddies.

And then she caught one of the slimes.

The slime didn’t even bother to resist as it was dragged back to where Momo was.

It was like fishing jellyfish…

“Momo, Aka. What are you going to do with that slime?”

I ask with curiosity. Then Aka moved closer to the slime.

And then Aka did the most surprising thing.

It started to absorb the slime into its body.

“What!?”

I couldn’t help but say out loud.

Aka’s body covered the other slime’s like a blanket, gradually incorporating it into its body.

The slime that was being ingested did not resist. It allowed it to happen. Its body was becoming smaller and smaller now.

It took about one minute.

Aka finished ingesting the slime completely, then it shivered with satisfaction.

I feel like Aka’s body was just a little bigger now than before.

It was a pretty shocking sight, though.

I hadn’t known… Slimes can eat other slimes.

No, maybe it wasn’t so much eating as, fusing…?

And then Aka came over to me and started to shake again.

What is it now?

I looked with strong interest, and this time, Aka’s body split into two.

Wh-what the!?

“…(shaking, shaking)”

“…(shaking, shaking)”

The two Aka’s shivered.

It seemed like they were smaller now.

Maybe two-thirds of the original Aka’s size.

I continue to stare at them.

“Hmm? What?”

“…(shaking)”

“…(shaking)”

It seemed like they wanted me to praise them.

See? Look what I can do! They seemed to boast…I think so, anyway.

What if it had only fused with that slime so I would praise it?

“Oh…uh, that’s amazing Aka. I didn’t know you could do that! Yeah, wow!”

I say. The two Aka’s looked happy, and they started to bounce up and down.

Though, they couldn’t actually jump if they wanted to.

I thought that they wanted to be petted, so I did.

While they were cool to the touch, it was still a nice feeling.

Aka shuddered with pleasure.

“Brrrr…”

Momo started to rub against me.

I guess she wanted some attention too.

Haha, what a cutey.

“Ahh, you did well too, Momo. Thank you for helping Aka.”

I say as I pet her. Momo smiled happily.

I enjoy the softness of her fur for a while.

It was a happy time.

“–Should I fuse with more slimes?”

After petting them for some time, Aka asked me this question.

Apparently, Aka was able to raise its abilities through fusing with other slimes.

It would be very convenient for me, but was Aka really okay with it?

They were the same time of species, maybe there would be an aversion to doing it?

I asked, but Aka said there was not.

Slimes seemed to not have any sense of solidarity amongst each other.

Well then, I had no complaints about it.

Momo and I started to catch slimes and give them to Aka.

Not only were there slimes in the rice paddies, but also in the drainage basins.

As they allowed the water to take them anywhere, they must have ended up collecting here.

And so we were able to give Aka a lot of slimes.

“Alright then. We should move along now.”

I didn’t want to stay in any one place for too long.

Just as we started to move away from the rice paddies, ‘Scout’ detected something.

It wasn’t a human…it was a monster.

And it seemed much stronger than anything I had sensed before.

I immediately had Momo use her shadow, and Aka its disguise.

I too hid and used Conceal in order to see what it was.

Then I used ‘Telescope’ to look in the direction where the presence was detected.

“That…”

My eyes widened when I saw the monster.

It was obese and massive, with the head of a pig.

An orc.

Its nose twitched as it scanned at its surroundings, then it started to come closer to use.

…Was it searching for something?

What to do?

It was only one orc.

Should I run, or should I fight…