Chapter 9: Let’s Try Reviving the Village Well

"That’s enough!!"

...Huh?

I just spoke out loud.

My anger must have been so intense that my vocal organs finally completed themselves just so I could complain. I’m genuinely grateful to finally have a mouth, but I have no idea how it actually works (sweat).

Anyway, since I have a mouth now, this will go much faster. Time to help Kanta.

I signal to Logan. He understands my intention perfectly without needing telepathy.

He leaps from the church roof and lands in front of Kanta — after first blasting away the man who was grabbing the boy by the collar.

"Y-Yaabe!"

Kanta immediately bursts into tears and hugs me. I gently stroke his head with a tentacle.

"You’re surprisingly dutiful, huh? I didn’t realize the adults were giving you this much trouble. Sorry for telling you to keep my existence a secret."

I apologize to Kanta.

"N-No, it’s not like that! Thanks to you bringing us water, Mom got better too. I’m the one who was helped!"

I ruffle his head roughly this time.

"So? What are all you grown adults doing ganging up on a kid? Depending on your answer, I might just take Kanta’s place and be your opponent instead."

I release a slightly threatening aura and slowly look around at the villagers.

"Is that... a monster...?"

"But I’ve never seen a monster like that before?"

"And I’ve never seen such a huge wolf either!"

As the villagers begin to murmur in confusion, Uza roars at them.

"A monster has entered the village! Everyone, let’s exterminate it!"

He tries to rally them, but no one follows. Yeah, that makes sense. Anyone willing to pick a fight after seeing Logan must be pretty special.

"Exterminate? Me? Or rather... us?"

As if responding to my words, sixty wolf-fang tribesmen suddenly appear, surrounding the villagers.

"Kyaaa!"

"W-What is this?!"

"Village chief! We’re surrounded by wolves!"

The villagers fall into a total panic at being suddenly encircled by a large pack of wolves.

Heh heh heh. This is your punishment for bullying the kids. Reflect on your actions.

"Slime-san! Are the wolves Slime-san’s friends?"

Chiko fearlessly pets Logan with all her might and asks. Logan, don’t look at me with those "somehow deal with this" eyes. Endure it.

"That’s right! They’re my precious friends!"

『B-Boss...』

Logan’s eyes are getting a little misty with emotion. He usually makes sure to call me "Boss" in front of his subordinates, but he must have been so moved that it slipped out.

"May I assume you are the leader of these wolves, sir?"

An elderly man who seemed to be the village chief spoke up. He was called "village chief" earlier, so it’s probably him. Since the opportunity presented itself, I want to communicate as amicably as possible. If things go well, I might even be able to visit the village casually in the future.

...Though surrounding the villagers with sixty wolves kind of ruins any chance of looking friendly! Oh well. I have no intention of forgiving the adults who were harassing Kanta anyway, so it’s fine.

"Yeah, I’m the one leading the wolf-fang tribe."

"I see. We will do everything we can, so please, I beg you not to harm the villagers."

The village chief bows deeply to me.

"I only came here because I heard Kanta and his sister were being blamed by some of the villagers. I never intended to do anything to the village itself."

The village chief visibly relaxes from the bottom of his heart. Being surrounded by wolves must have worried him quite a bit. Understandable.

"I see... Thank you very much. By the way, were you the one delivering water to Kanta and his family?"

"That’s right. I was also watering the fields like this."

I stretch a tentacle like a hose and shoot out a powerful stream of water.

"""Ooooh!"""

The villagers gasp in amazement at the sight of the water.

"Are you the one creating this water, sir?"

"No, it’s water from the forest spring."

I answer the chief’s question honestly.

"The forest spring should have been contaminated..."

"I purified it. It’s now a miraculous spring blessed by the water spirit, full of clean water."

"W-What...!"

The village chief seems shocked that I not only purified the spring but also received the water spirit’s blessing.

"Could it be that you are the Water Spirit herself...!?"

I transform from my Drone Mk. II form into the teardrop shape. Boing!

"""Ooooh...!"""

Fufu! I kind of wanted to say "I’m not a bad slime!" here, but it seems none of the villagers really get the slime reference, so it’d probably be pointless.

"No, I’m not the water spirit. Though we are friends. So, village chief. You were pretty harsh on Kanta earlier, weren’t you?"

I turn back toward the chief, applying pressure again.

"M-My deepest apologies! The village well that supports our livelihood has been drying up! Water is no longer enough for everyone, and when only Kanta’s house still had water in their jar, some villagers became resentful..."

The chief suddenly drops to his knees in a dogeza and begins explaining the situation.

"So if the well is restored and water starts flowing again, no one will complain anymore, right?"

I confirm with the chief.

"Of course!"

I feel a bit awkward at his pleading gaze, but I can’t just leave things like this. I’ll do something about it.

"Wintia! Belhia! Lend me your power!"

I summon the water spirit Wintia and the earth spirit Belhia with whom I have contracts.

"Yeees~!"

"Sorry for the wait~"

The two spirits appear on my left and right.

"""Ooooooh~~~~~!"""

The villagers are astonished by the sudden appearance of the spirits beside me.

"Sorry to ask you both, but please lend me your strength."

"Of course! You’re my friend, after all!"

"I’m totally okay with it too~"

Both of them are so reliable!

"First, Wintia. This well is almost completely dried up. Can you check if there’s any problem with the water source itself?"

"Wait a moment!"

Wintia emits light from her right hand and probes the bottom of the well.

"Hmm, the water source itself seems fine. There’s still water under this ground."

So the problem isn’t the source — it’s the ground layer.

"Then Belhia, can you tell what the geological layers between the surface and the water source are like?"

"Yeees, let me check~"

Belhia floats up lightly and descends into the well.

"Yaabe-chan, I figured it out~"

The earth spirit Belhia floats back up.

"What did you find?"

"There seems to have originally been a hard bedrock layer not too far below this well. Water had been seeping up through small cracks in that bedrock, but it looks like there was a slight crustal movement that sealed most of those cracks. That’s why water stopped coming up from the source."

I understand now thanks to Belhia’s explanation. The water used to come through tiny cracks in the hard bedrock layer, but those cracks closed up, cutting off the flow.

I can’t forgive the villagers for throwing unfounded accusations and suspicion at Kanta, Chiko, and their mother over something like this.

"The hard bedrock layer is about 15 meters down. Will you be okay?"

Belhia asks, probably imagining what method I’ll use.

"Twelve shots should do it!"

I grin and swing my deadly Slime Tentacle (Right). Then I leap directly above the well.

"Slime-style Combat Art Secret Technique! Tornadia Magnum — Six Barrage!"

A corkscrew punch barrage using my slime tentacles — six consecutive strikes. I named it myself. The reason it’s six strikes is because when I was bored by the spring earlier and testing various special moves, I found that six was the limit I could control at super speed.

Incidentally, the entire "Slime-style Combat Art" exists only in Yabe’s chuunibyou brain. It’s a blessing that no one in this world looks down on him for it.

DOGOOOOOOOOOON!

A loud, flashy sound echoes as cracks form at the bottom of the well. But that’s not enough. I leap into the air above the well again.

"One more round! Tornadia Magnum — Six Barrage!"

ZUGOOOOOOOOOON!

The second barrage widens the cracks dramatically, and water suddenly bursts forth.

PSHHHHHHHHHHH!

"Ooooh! Water! The water’s flowing again!"

The village chief shouts in excitement. Even the man who was harassing Kanta raises his hands in celebration. How convenient. I’ll be giving him the special punishment course later.

While watching the well spouting water, I think about how to handle things going forward now that I’ve revealed myself in front of the villagers.