The Alchemy Club Investigation (Part 3)
Morphe-senpai had only just regained consciousness a short while earlier, but her mind was already clear again.
Fortunately, nothing seemed to be wrong with her body.
When she woke, she looked at me and her face flushed red enough to seem on the verge of bursting, but somehow she managed to keep her expression cold and said, “The slime creatures are behaving strangely. Those once gentle little ones….”
Slimes had always been creatures of purity that cleansed the environment, and attacking anyone was extremely rare.
“And on top of that, even though you were right here, they only came at me.”
“That was truly a stroke of luck.”
“……”
Morphe-senpai shot me a fierce glare.
No, I only said that because I didn’t want the jelly show to happen to me too…
Still, she explained that she couldn’t understand why the slimes were acting so oddly and declared something suspicious was definitely going on.
“We’ll have to investigate the cause.”
Morphe-senpai immediately sprang into action, and of course I helped right alongside her.
While we carefully searched the surroundings, we came across a shocking sight.
Along the edge of the lake, dozens of dead slimes lay scattered.
The hardened bodies of the deceased slimes stirred a pang of sorrow in anyone who saw them.
As she examined the remains of the dead slimes with great care, Morphe-senpai frowned, then suddenly went to her carriage to retrieve her tools.
She took a sample of the slime corpses, placed them in flasks, and added several chemicals.
“……”
“Did you figure it out?”
“These slimes… they tried to purify something toxic and ended up dying.”
Morphe-senpai’s eyes turned icy.
“And… now that I think about it, there are significantly fewer alchemical materials around the lake than before. It seems someone else has discovered this place besides me.”
“Who?”
“I can’t say for sure, but…”
Morphe-senpai guessed the culprit was an alchemist.
“They were probably coming here to gather alchemical materials when they accidentally stumbled upon this spot. Seeing the slimes, they must have decided to dispose of the waste or sludge produced during alchemy right there.”
Alchemical waste contained highly toxic substances, and disposing of it was expensive.
“These little ones died while trying to cleanse it….”
Morphe-senpai stroked the dead slimes with a look of pity.
The slimes had attacked her because they had mistaken her for an unauthorized polluter or an accomplice—or possibly someone committing the same crime—due to the various chemical scents clinging to her body from daily alchemy work.
“I asked her, a little sadly, “What do we do now?”
“Of course we catch the culprit.”
A cold fury toward the criminal flickered in her blue eyes.
“You’re not planning to catch them yourself…?”
“Obviously.”
I suggested reporting it to the city guards, but Morphe-senpai refused, saying that if word got out to other demon races, things would only get worse here.
“I’ll be lying in wait here every night until I catch that unauthorized polluter.”
Her will was so firm that even as her junior, I agreed to help.
I also hated the thought of a criminal ruining such a beautiful place.
Since I volunteered to help, Morphe-senpai’s gaze toward me became somewhat friendlier, turning it into a win-win.
“First, let’s head into the city and gather the supplies we need.”
We returned to Tomeron, loaded the carriage, and set off again for the lake.
Lying in wait like a detective in an appropriate patch of bushes and waiting for the criminal to appear, we hid ourselves.
Yet even after the sun set and the night grew still, with only the faint chirp of night insects breaking the silence, no sign of the criminal appeared.
“It looks like this will be a long-term operation.”
As I chewed on the peaches I had brought along in vain, fighting boredom, a glugging sound reached my ears.
“Ah.”
A single slime, its smooth gelatinous body reflecting the bright moonlight, approached Morphe-senpai and me.
“—Eek!”
The slime Morphe-senpai had once strongly claimed was harmless had hidden behind my back.
It made sense, after all—it was the very pink slime that had inflicted the humiliation of a jelly shower upon her earlier that day.
Thankfully, it was not nearly as aggressive as before.
Morphe-senpai whispered softly, “This must be an individual that mutated due to the influence of some medicine.”
The mutated slime, its large droplet-like body writhing, showed curiosity toward us.
Even though the creature had caused Morphe-senpai immense humiliation, the way it squirmed was somehow endearing.
“Do slimes eat peaches too?”
“Of course they do.”
As soon as I heard Morphe-senpai’s words, I tossed a peach to the creature.
Glug—
The slime covered the thrown peach with its own body.
Inside its translucent form, the peach could be seen slowly breaking down.
The slime seemed pleased with the peach’s taste and trembled with joy, its body pulsing purung purung.
“The emotional expression is clear.”
The slime that had received the peach and felt good disappeared from its spot and soon reappeared.
“It came back again?”
“Hold on. There’s something inside its body.”
Upon closer inspection, the items were the very alchemical materials I had planned to collect from the forest area that morning.
The slime placed them in front of me.
“Are you saying you don’t need them?”
Purung purung!
It seemed to agree.
Was it a gift in return for the peach?
Morphe-senpai, watching from the side, looked extremely surprised.
“I’ve never heard of a slime performing an act of kindness….”
Although they are creatures of purity, their intelligence is low, so the concept of kindness doesn’t even occur to them.
In that sense, this pink slime seemed not only different in color but also possessed of higher intelligence.
Without hesitation, I gave the slime a name.
“From now on, your name is Jjonddeugi.”
Purung purung!
It seemed to like it. That was a relief.
I shared the peaches with Jjonddeugi and continued lying in wait by the lakeside through the night.
The unauthorized polluter of alchemical waste never showed itself, but Morphe-senpai showed no sign of giving up easily.
She really did perform night watches from the lake even on weekdays, and thanks to that, I accompanied her on daily trips back and forth between Tomeron and the lake.
“Thanks to you, my carriage-driving skills have improved a lot.”
Later, it might even be possible to borrow the carriage and travel with Nadia.
Purung purung!
Once the lessons at the Cradle ended, we immediately left the city and arrived at the lake, where Jjonddeugi came out to greet us.
Every time, had it been because I gave it so many peaches? The creature welcomed me happily.
“Here, take this.”
Pururung♡
After tossing a peach to Jjonddeugi, who followed me like a puppy, we went to the patch of bushes and waited.
As I stood in a daze, time passed in the blink of an eye, and night fell.
Come to think of it, we had already been on night watch duty for a week.
A little tired, I cautiously asked Morphe-senpai beside me, “Morphe-senpai, what if no one comes tonight either?”
Having spent a week together, I had grown quite comfortable calling her by that name.
“If we don’t catch them tonight, we’ll wait tomorrow too.”
As if the obviousness of the question irritated her, Morphe-senpai replied that way.
Well, I supposed she was right…
But I couldn’t pour all my time into this place forever.
I had to run as a host at the race, and I needed time to spend with my girlfriends.
“The last time I had sex was already a week ago…”
How long would it take to catch the criminal?
Just as I was idly touching Jjonddeugi’s soft, gelatinous body to ease my frustration, a rustling sound came from the bushes.
I immediately perked up my ears and looked in the direction the sound had come from.
Under the dim moonlight, a middle-aged man who appeared quite old was slowly walking toward the lake.
I quietly tapped Morphe-senpai’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?”
Morphe-senpai asked quietly.
Instead of answering, I brought my finger to my lips in a gesture asking her to stay silent.
“Someone is coming.”
I whispered in a small voice and pointed with my finger at the man who had just appeared.
“……!!”
When Morphe-senpai saw the direction I was pointing, her eyes widened, and anger and madness quickly filled them.
The unidentified criminal who had come to the lake at night carried a large metal barrel on his back.
“That’s the container alchemists use to gather waste…!”
Upon hearing that, I was certain too.
Given the circumstances, he had to be the one who had dumped alchemical waste into the lake.
“Then what do we do now… Morphe-senpai?!”
Before I could finish, Morphe-senpai had already left the bushes and was running toward the criminal.
I briefly thought her flowing blue hair looked beautiful, then followed immediately.
“You finally appeared! You criminal!”
As I watched Morphe-senpai shout while chasing the man, I sighed inwardly.
Instead of quietly approaching and catching him, she had charged forward so noisily…
Of course, the unidentified criminal had noticed us and fled into the woods in fright, but the heavy barrel on his back prevented him from getting far.
When we drew closer, Morphe-senpai kept a safe distance and confronted him.
I approached her side and said, “Why didn’t you consult with me before charging out?”
“……”
Morphe-senpai ignored my complaint and simply glared at the criminal.
Up close, he had a rather sly face.
Looking at us with wary eyes, he asked, “Who the hell are you sudden intruders?”
“You’re just a criminal committing unauthorized pollution—I don’t care who you are!”
“……Damn it!”
The criminal’s face twisted at Morphe-senpai’s growling words.
Realizing he could no longer escape, having been caught red-handed with the barrel on his back, he let out a sigh and asked us, “Hoo… so what do you plan to do with me?”
“Obviously beat you and drag you away.”
“As I thought…”
Unauthorized dumping of alchemical waste was a serious crime.
The criminal, who had surely known this, slumped his shoulders at Morphe-senpai’s fierce answer.
He raised both hands in surrender and said, “Fine, I’ll give up. Just don’t attack me.”
“Hmph, of course I will.”
As Morphe-senpai stepped forward to approach him, ready to surrender.
Thud.
A black sphere fell from the man’s raised hand.
“Eat this!”
Slap!
The criminal kicked the sphere that had fallen in front of his feet toward us.
“Morphe-senpai!”
Frightened, I grabbed Morphe-senpai’s arm to pull her aside, but I was one step too late.
Boom!