Chapter 15: Let’s Cheer On Irina’s Sudden Motivation!

"Ehhh~ Irina-san?"

I turned toward Irina, who was still sitting in seiza position beside me, looking all flustered and panicked.

"Auu... Lord Slime went back to calling me ’-san’ again... then... violate me!"

"Wait, whether I call you by name or add ’-san’, you still go straight to ’kyaa~ violate me’? What’s up with that?"

This has gone way beyond a running joke. It’s a full katsudon now. I’m not just full — I’ve got indigestion. Somebody get me some stomach medicine!

"Lord Slime’s subordinates are all so excellent and gave detailed reports, but I have nothing to report... ugh."

Saying that, she suddenly stood up and dashed off.

"Hey, wait a second!"

I stretched my tentacle out with a nyuiiin and grabbed Irina by the scruff of her neck as she ran.

"Gueh!"

Ah, I accidentally choked her.

"Ah, sorry sorry. But Irina, where were you suddenly running off to?"

"I have to gather some information so I won’t lose to Lord Slime’s subordinates..."

Why the sudden shift? She did say she’d look into slimes for me, but...

Now that I think about it, asking a hopeless klutz like Irina to do research might have been unrealistic from the start. Although I didn’t expect Chick Captain and the others to bring back such solid information either.

"So, where exactly were you planning to run off to?"

"Umm... Sorenariini town?"

"Why was that a question!?"

She’s too much of a klutz! This woman named Irina doesn’t seem to think things through very deeply. She just acts on whatever pops into her head. People like this are really hard to handle — the classic "unreliable" type.

"And what were you going to investigate in Sorenariini?"

"That would be... Lord Slime’s matters?"

...Again with the questioning tone.

"And how exactly were you going to investigate slimes?"

"That would be... by asking the staff at the Adventurer’s Guild..."

"Aaaaaugh! Aaaaaaugh!"

"Eeeeh!?"

"If you tell the guild about me, they’ll come to subjugate the rare monster, obviously!"

I puffed up angrily and lectured Irina.

Consulting the guild = absolutely not allowed!

"B-But... they might investigate you or even protect you!"

Irina clenched both fists with a funsu!

"Whether it’s investigation or protection, I don’t want to be taken away and experimented on. I’d lose my freedom."

"I-I see..."

Irina looked extremely dejected. She was starting to look a little pitiful.

"I guess I really can’t be of any help to Lord Slime..."

She looked up at me from her girl-sitting position with watery eyes. When she makes those puppy eyes, even her klutziness starts to seem acceptable... Acceptable for what, exactly?

"Of course you can. There are plenty of things only you can help with, Irina."

I placed a tentacle on Irina’s shoulder to cheer her up.

"Things only I can do... Understood, Lord Slime! It’s my first time, so please be gentle..."

She started to remove her armor’s shoulder plate. Yep, she’s a total klutz. I knew it.

"No, that’s not it, Irina... I want you to teach me about this world. I’d like to know about currency values and such too. These are things I can’t really ask my monster subordinates." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

I tried my best to make a smiling face as I spoke to her. ...What does my smiling face even look like? Guess I’ll have to wait for the manga adaptation for that, haha!

"Understood! Leave it to me, Lord Slime!"

She stood up energetically again and started dashing off.

"Hey, wait!"

Once again, I stretched my tentacle with a nyuiiin and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.

"Gueh!"

Ah, choked her again.

"So, where were you trying to go this time?"

"I was going to research the world and money matters for Lord Slime’s sake..."

...Isn’t she way too much of a klutz? She’s surpassing all my expectations. I’m not sure I can handle this girl...

"Irina. Before you go researching, I’d really appreciate it if you could first tell me what you already know. Also, don’t you have any money on you?"

"Oh! Lord Slime, you’re a genius! Wait a moment!"

She stood up with a gabari and dashed off again.

This time I didn’t stop her, because she was running toward her tent.

She rushed inside, pulled out her huge backpack, and dumped all its contents onto the ground with a dosadosa.

"There’s quite a lot of stuff in here..."

She even spilled out clothes and underwear, Irina-san?

"This is it! My entire fortune!"

She showed me the coins scattered on the cloth. Sure enough, they were gold, silver, and copper coins.

"What about prices? For example, how much is a regular loaf of bread?"

"Let’s see... a normal loaf of bread would be about one copper coin."

Hmm, so roughly one copper coin is around 100 yen in my old world’s sense.

"Ten copper coins equal one silver coin. Ten silver coins equal one gold coin. I don’t have any, but one platinum coin equals one hundred gold coins."

Only platinum coins are worth 100 times gold? The ratios are a bit off.

"Normal shopping is done with copper and silver coins. For expensive purchases, people use gold coins."

Yeah, easy to visualize.

"Thanks for the clear explanation, Irina. I understand the currency values now."

I patted her shoulder with my tentacle again. I hope my gratitude got through.

"Lord Slime..."

Irina looked up at me with teary, sparkling eyes.

『Ohh! So she really is Boss’s wife!』

『No no, Boss needs to build a harem! Let’s keep pushing forward!』

What are Logan and Chick Captain casually deciding on their own?

『She’s definitely going to be Boss’s missus, right? This is a great omen for spring!』

By the way, what’s with your character? And it’s spring right now? Logan, introduce me to this guy properly later!

"By the way, Irina. Call me Yabe from now on. Slime is my race, not my actual name."

"Ooh! You’re telling me your true name... Kyaa—"

"Stop that."

I cut off her "kyaa~" fantasy.

"Yabe-sama! I will definitely make myself useful to you!"

Irina thrust her clenched right fist high into the air and declared with a dramatic "no regrets in my life" pose.

For now, I’ll just graciously accept the sentiment.