“Whoa. What is this?”
“It’s delicious~”
Peach said dispiritedly, followed by Miku with a radiant smile.
In their hands were steamed sweet potatoes made at the new base.
Mitsuki had cooked the ones they harvested earlier, and Kousuke was distributing them.
Miku, who had spoken only a single word, was now intently devouring the steamed sweet potatoes.
“Miku, if you eat too much, you won’t be able to eat dinner~”
Peach said, then stopped Miku’s hand as it reached for another one, her expression clearly conveying disapproval.
Miku then looked at Peach’s face and puffed out her cheeks.
“…But it’s delicious~”
“Hahaha. If Miku likes it, I’ll make more later, so let’s stop for now, okay?”
As Kousuke said this, he turned his gaze to Mitsuki, who was standing beside him.
Mitsuki, understanding his intent precisely, took the plate of steamed sweet potatoes and removed it from the table.
Kousuke gently patted Miku’s head as she wistfully watched the plate being taken away.
Miku’s cheeks remained puffed out, but she immediately cheered up at Mitsuki’s next words.
“You know what. In that case, shall we make Miku’s favorite for dinner tonight?”
“Really!? You promise!”
Kousuke and Peach exchanged a look and shared a bitter smile at Miku’s fickle attitude.
Miku already knew how delicious Mitsuki’s cooking was, so the prospect of eating her favorite food made her feelings shift instantly.
While casting a sideways glance at Miku, who had grabbed Mitsuki’s hand and was enthusiastically listing all the things she wanted to eat, Kousuke and Peach shared a small laugh.
Then, Peach, her laughter subsiding, looked at Kousuke with a serious expression.
“Still, the power of slimes seems amazing~. Are you planning on experimenting elsewhere?”
“Elsewhere? Hmm. I wonder? I didn’t intend to let my familiars out in the first place.”
The only exception was Rinka, to whom he had given the wolf only the other day.
That was because he believed that Rinka would not mistreat the familiar even if he gave it to her.
Moreover, since he was giving her a wolf, he reasoned that she wouldn’t be unreasonable with it, considering she might be attacked in return.
Of course, he had given the familiar to Rinka only because various other conditions were met.
Considering all this, Kousuke had no intention of carelessly letting his familiars loose.
Peach understood this well, so she nodded slightly.
“I understand that. However, how about we experiment in our village~?”
“Ah, I see. That’s right.”
If he told them at the Succubus village that the slime was Kousuke’s familiar, and furthermore, a divine beast, they would surely treat it with great care.
The only potential problem would be the inability to distinguish it from wild slimes. However, by conducting various experiments, including this, they might obtain interesting results.
Kousuke began to seriously consider Peach’s words, crossing his arms.
“There should be no problem with how the slimes are treated. We can distinguish them from wild species using tools. The remaining issue is…”
“You might suddenly have fewer hands available, potentially leading to not being able to produce enough food for everyone in a pinch, but that can be solved with money~”
Essentially, the Succubus village did not use money.
The currency that Succubi earned as compensation mostly served as operational funds for their espionage activities.
Since falling under Kousuke’s command, they no longer had to worry about outside enemies, and they could stably obtain daily necessities. This meant they rarely faced any unexpected large expenses.
Thanks to this, the Succubi as a whole had accumulated a considerable amount of funds, making it possible to support the entire village’s food supply for a while.
Peach explained that this was a perfect time to experiment, as they currently had some leeway outside the village. Kousuke looked convinced.
“I see. If that’s the case, it’s definitely worth trying.”
Kousuke also wanted to investigate how much his slimes would be capable of working once they were out of his direct control.
He knew that letting them loose carelessly would cause a huge commotion, so he had never considered it from the start.
However, if the Succubi were willing to do it, it would also satisfy Kousuke’s intellectual curiosity (?).
Kousuke had no worries about information leaking from the Succubi.
The more he thought about it, the more favorable the conditions seemed.
Sensing Kousuke’s inclination to try, Peach looked at him with hopeful eyes.
“Is that so~? Then, may I bring this proposal to the village?”
“Yeah. For starters, just bring it up for discussion. We can begin with small experimental fields, to start with.”
He certainly didn’t intend to convert all the fields currently being cultivated in the Succubus village to experimental use.
There was no need to rush, so if it went well, they could gradually expand it.
Once the discussion had reached a certain point, Kousuke casually asked Peach something he suddenly wondered about.
“Come to think of it, you seem quite proactive. Did something happen?”
Kousuke felt that Peach was unusually pushing this matter this time.
Peach usually took a passive approach regarding Kousuke’s endeavors (experiments).
Basically, she adopted the attitude of accepting if Kousuke asked her to do something.
This time, however, Peach had made the proposal herself, so he wondered if there was some reason behind it.
In response to Kousuke’s question, Peach shook her head slightly from side to side.
“No~. There isn’t any significant reason. I just thought that if we could reduce the labor force for crop production, we could reassign people elsewhere.”
“Ah, is that so.”
In the current Succubus village, those who had retired as intelligence agents were responsible for various production activities.
However, this made it difficult to keep up with the rapid population growth.
Especially since they had moved to the tower and their lives had stabilized, the population had been increasing.
For now, they were compensating for various things with the foreign currency they earned, but they also wanted to increase their self-sufficiency within the village if possible.
They had been discussing how to address this problem for some time, and that’s when the matter of slimes came up.
The Succubus village had a history of trial and error, so it wasn’t just a matter of timing.
Nevertheless, for Peach, the emergence of the slime matter before the village’s operations became problematic was a fortuitous coincidence.
Given that the circumstances were now aligned, Kousuke had no intention of being reluctant to release the slimes.
The only issue would be how to effectively utilize the slimes, but that would simply require trying various things.
“Until things stabilize, will I need to provide detailed reports? Or rather, would it be better to go directly?”
“If you do that, it seems like you’ll never be able to leave the village, Mr. Kousuke, so I think just the initial instructions will be enough~”
With the expectation that the slimes, who had been active (?) in the new base’s fields, would work with just his initial instructions if they were brought to the Succubus village’s fields, Kousuke tilted his head.
“Are you sure that’s alright? For one thing, we don’t even know if the slimes will actually work properly.”
“It’ll be alright~. We’ll prepare a field for that purpose.”
Peach, who was prepared for failure from the start, confidently stated that it wouldn’t be a major problem, and Kousuke nodded.
And so, slime farming was set to begin in the Succubus village.
Whether it would be successful or not remains unknown for now.
We don’t know how well the slimes will work once they are released from Kousuke’s hands.
(That’s what we’ll say for now.)
