I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 39

[Eldest Baby Slime POV]

Father has gone to the village, and we are the only ones remaining in the dungeon.

“We understand our most important mission, right?”

“Yes, it’s to raise our younger siblings, right? I understand. But we also received permission to go to the 10th floor.”

The second-born slime responds, also saying it wants to go to the 10th floor.

“The rights we received from Father are for conquering the 10th floor and creating the Monster Houses, both. Older sister.”

The third-born slime provides further clarification.

“First, we should fulfill Father’s mission. The hunt for today isn’t finished yet, you know?”

“One of us should stay here to protect the younger siblings. Older brother, would you take care of it?”

The fourth-born slime tries to push the responsibility of guarding onto the third-born slime.

――――What a hassle. For now, let’s temporarily number the slimes 1 to 4 based on the birth order.

“I had a feeling that would happen. Fine, big brother, go ahead. I’ll tell the younger ones to use [Acid] and increase their feeding speed by stretching the area to the limit.”

Slime 3 shrugs his shoulders and sighs. It makes sense, considering he is the least aggressive of us all.

“Well then, I’ll leave it to you.”

–

We hunted food for our younger siblings in the Monster House on floors 1 to 6, and while at it, gathered our own meal. Afterward, we took Slime 3’s portion of food to the 1st floor.

“You went out of your way to bring the meal. Thank you.”

“If we wait for the older brother to hunt, we won’t be able to go to the 10th floor.”

“R-right… You really do love fighting, don’t you?”

Slime 3 starts eating while forcing a bitter smile.

“Of course. Hunting and creating Monster Houses are things anyone can do. Only those who can fight can go downstairs with Father-sama. Don’t think I’ll save a seat for you if the younger ones take them.”

My younger sister seems to view dungeon exploration as an honor. I don’t think Father is only concerned with dungeon exploration. There must be other ways we can contribute. I guess she’s a battle maniac after all, since she doesn’t think like that.

“That would be troublesome. As an older brother, I don’t want to be surpassed so easily.”

Slime 3 shrugs. He also doesn’t seem to regard combat as the only thing of importance.

“Alright, enough with the small talk. We’ll finish conquering the 10th floor before Father gets back. Let’s go!”

I give a motivational push to Slimes 2 and 4 and lead them to the 10th floor.

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

The 10th floor is also a water floor, and it’s no different from floors 6 to 9. For humans, the water would probably reach their thighs. Since we can move on walls and ceilings, it doesn’t feel much different from normal floors. In fact, monsters that live in water are vulnerable, so we can attack them unilaterally unless they use magic.

On this floor was a mysterious object, a water-colored ball about the size of a basketball floating in midair.

“What is this? What kind of monster is this? It’s not transparent, so it’s not a slime――――”

While trying to assess the opponent, a spear-like tentacle flew from the side. The spear stabbed the water-colored ball, and it seemed to lose its buoyancy, falling into the water.

“We’ll figure it out once we eat it. You didn’t feel like it was a strong opponent either, did you, older brother?”

Pulling the tentacle back, Slime 2 asks me while devouring the creature. What a battle maniac…

“That’s true, but… So, did you learn anything?”

“Yes, this monster has [Recovery Magic]! Father-sama will surely be pleased!”

Slime 2 bounces around, hopping excitedly.

“And it also has [Water Source Detection]? It seems to be able to detect the distribution of water in the surroundings… That ball seems to be using this to find the enemy’s location. Could this be a dud?”

Slime 2 makes a somewhat uncertain face. It’s easy to see why it’s considered a useless skill, as sound wave detection is sufficient.

“We can determine that it’s a magic-user type with healing and water magic. Let’s have it use healing magic and learn it. We should also investigate the casting intervals for its spells. We need to report to Father how intense its barrage will be in the Monster House.”

“Yes, I understand. Is it fine to do that in the encounters during the dungeon exploration?”

“There shouldn’t be any problems. We should be able to do that by the time we reach the next floor with the encounters along the way.”

The exploration of the 10th floor went smoothly without any problems. We learned healing magic from the water-colored ball, and the casting interval was found to be 10–20 seconds. Since other monsters take longer than 20 seconds, this is about twice as fast in casting speed. However, if they take even a small amount of damage, they will cast healing magic and then do nothing for about 30 seconds, so in the Monster House, it’s best to extend tentacles indiscriminately to deal as much damage to as many enemies as possible.

“Now, let’s create one Monster House and head back. We can present it to Father when he returns.”

“That sounds wonderful. Let’s make it right away.”

After creating the Monster House, I hunted food for Slime 3 and my younger siblings, then returned to the 1st floor.

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

“Welcome back, older brother. The younger siblings should be able to finish feeding and go hunting by tomorrow.”

As soon as we return, Slime 3 gives me an update on the current situation.

“Then, tomorrow, let’s split into two groups: one for combat training and one for creating the Monster Houses. The training group will consist of my defensive young brother and offensive younger sister, while my younger sister and I will take charge of creating the Monster House.”

I told everyone the plan for tomorrow. As expected, my younger sister complained, but her complaints were a little different this time.

“If we’re starting training tomorrow, could I go check out the 11th floor? The lights are still shining brightly, and it wouldn’t hurt to check out the atmosphere and what monsters appear, right?”

“You――――do you intend to disobey Father’s orders?”

I close in on Slime 2 with a voice filled with anger. They probably don’t actually intend to break Father’s orders, but I can’t stand them interpreting Father’s words freely and acting on their own.

“N-no, that’s not it! We don’t have to explore, but we can still encounter monsters near the white gate. If we can provide Father-sama with information on monster skills and tactics, he’ll surely be pleased. Plus, since we’re making the Monster House near the white gate, we can offer Father-sama another Monster House!”

Slime 2 tries to justify itself, but presenting Father with information on monsters and a Monster House will surely make him happy.

“―――Understood. However, you must promise not to leave the area around the white gate.”

“Understood! Let’s head out immediately!”

Slime 4 bounces around excitedly. It’s always in high spirits. I sigh and make my way to the 11th floor.

Author Notes:

You can think of the relationship between Cruz and the young slimes as being similar to that of bees.

Cruz, the progenitor, is the highest being, and the two driving forces behind their actions are the “desire for the progenitor’s approval” and the “prosperity of the species.”

Normally, slimes don’t have genders, but because Cruz has the concept of gender, the young slimes also have genders. Cruz does not know this.

Chapter length 2876 characters.