Sura the Slime, as expected, possessed eyes.
Sura widened those eyes, fixed on its opponent, and charged with its full power concentrated on its entire body, aiming a ram.
However, it seemed to lack speed, as it was dodged and missed the intended target of the opponent’s face.
Still, it wasn’t completely dodged, and managed to hit the opponent’s body.
“Cyaun?!”
The opponent let out a voice at the same time as being hit.
The voice was less of a scream from the impact and more of a surprise at being hit.
Judging by its appearance, it seemed to have taken little damage.
Sura bounced back, landed on the ground, regained its posture, and prepared to charge at the opponent again, but was stopped.
“Alright, that’s enough. It’s dangerous to go any further as we might both get serious.”
As expected, it was Kousuke, who had been watching, who said that.
Sura’s opponent was Nana, who had come to the management layer by chance.
At first, Sura had been playfully sticking to her, but when the situation turned like it did earlier, Kousuke stepped in to stop it.
Of course, both Nana and Sura quickly disengaged from their battle stances at Kousuke’s voice.
However, even in terms of battle stance, Nana was not serious and was completely in play mode.
Sura’s expression was unreadable, so it was unclear whether it was in play mode or serious mode.
Kousuke intervened because he sensed Nana was about to enter serious mode.
Watching Nana and Sura return to their relaxed mode at Kousuke’s restraint, Shurein wore an impressed expression.
“I see. Even though they are small, they are still familiars, aren’t they?”
A monster that had heated up to the point of almost becoming serious beyond play, was silenced with a single word.
Shurein had known that Kousuke had immense trust (?) from his familiars, but he now realized that it was also demonstrated in situations like this.
“That’s right. Besides, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have brought them this far, would I?”
“Really?”
Kousuke faltered at Shurein’s slightly doubtful gaze.
“…Probably.”
Kouksuke said so, averting his gaze, and Shurein let out a small laugh.
“Even if Sura wasn’t a familiar, I believe you would have brought them here because Rin asked you to, right?”
“I won’t deny that.”
Convinced that Shurein’s words were correct, Kousuke gave up on arguing.
For Shurein, Kousuke’s words were superfluous as usual.
More importantly, Shurein had something else that piqued her curiosity.
“Sura, despite its appearance, what rank do you think it is?”
“Hmm? For starters, I don’t even know if Sura’s species is registered in the Crown’s monster encyclopedia.”
The Guild, which is widespread in this world rather than Crown, has a monster encyclopedia that classifies monsters by strength.
Of course, undiscovered species are added sequentially, and this is still happening.
Some species are thought to be extinct, but they are still properly recorded in case they appear again.
Since the monster encyclopedia managed by Crown and the Guild is not present in all facilities, it is not something that everyone can see.
Therefore, Kousuke also doesn’t know if Sura’s species is generally recognized.
Of course, if Kousuke asked, he could probably see the encyclopedia managed by Crown, but for now, he has no intention of doing so.
This is because knowing Sura’s rank would not change anything.
Kousuke shrugged his shoulders, and Shurein nodded with a look of understanding.
“That’s true.”
“Did something happen with Sura’s species?”
“No, it’s just that Rin and Sura seem to be of the same species. I was curious about what their rank would be.”
“Ah, I see.”
In fact, Lin and Sura are the same species.
However, it has been confirmed that although they have the same skill composition, their levels are completely different.
“Come to think of it, we don’t even know exactly how skill levels increase.”
It is known that levels increase by repeating the same actions countless times.
However, it is also certain that they stop at a certain point.
Therefore, it is said that there might be some special conditions to overcome the level wall.
While Kousuke can “see” levels, he doesn’t know how they “increase.”
Shurein’s idea was that by looking at the difference between Rin and Sura, they might understand something about that.
That’s why she wanted to confirm its rank, but unfortunately, no one in the management layer had the answer.
“It’s possible that the rank is different because their body size is different.”
“Indeed. However, it’s also possible that the species itself hasn’t been discovered yet.”
“That’s true.”
Both Kousuke and Shurein understand that Rin and Sura are rare species.
Therefore, it is possible that if Kousuke took Sura to the Guild, it would be registered as a new species.
However, the management layer members, including Kousuke, have no intention of doing so.
If Sura were registered as a new species after being taken there, it would clearly cause a commotion.
The fact that there are slimes, which are considered the epitome of weakness, other than the lowest rank, and the skills they possess.
Besides, most of the familiars around Kousuke are the kind that would cause trouble if investigated closely.
Shurein, who had been talking with Kousuke up to this point, suddenly had a simple question.
“Speaking of which, I understand that Rin is exceptional, but how strong is Sura?”
“Well, that’s… I know it’s weaker than Nana and Wanri, of course, and also weaker than Rin.”
Although Kousuke said so, he knew that comparing them to Nana and the others was a mistake.
Even so, they couldn’t have them fight other familiars to compare their strength.
Like Nana and Sura earlier, it’s impossible to predict when they might get serious and cause an accident.
Kousuke has no intention of taking such risks.
“Well, that’s true.”
“Besides, it might be good to go to some floor and have them fight to find out… Well, to be blunt, I don’t think there’s any need to investigate that far.”
Kousuke hinted that it would be a hassle, and Shurein nodded in agreement.
Shurein had only asked out of curiosity and wasn’t expecting such a definitive answer.
Perhaps happy that Kousuke was paying attention to her, Sura clung to Kousuke’s hand intently while they were talking.
Kousuke and Shurein were conversing while watching this, but in the end, it just ended up as casual chat, and nothing concrete was understood.
However, neither Kousuke nor Shurein were trying to reach any conclusion; they were merely passing the time with casual conversation.
I analyzed various things in a jumbled manner, but in the end, I couldn’t ascertain anything definitive.
It’s understandable since we weren’t looking at the encyclopedia while talking.
Besides, there aren’t many people of the same species.
