Hey, why are you in town again?
Why are you trying to hide your abilities?

　The town of Pindos, a theatre tavern.

　I was sitting in the same seat as before, with Lina.

'Don't answer a question with a question,'
'My question is farther along than I remember.
Mmm.

　You mean the first time you were on lockdown.
　She's been asking me the same questions since then.

"Fair enough. The reason I'm here is simple. I'm here to find out why you are hiding your skills to such an extent.
I'm not trying to hide anything.
Yeah, I know.

　d*mn, I was fuming.
　Lina replied in a hawk-like manner like royalty, but the actual nuance is closer to "yes, yes, I know".

　This is probably the second best match for my abilities in this world, next to my sister...
　I can understand why she's going to say "Yes, yes, I know".

　I understand, but that doesn't mean I can't say "Actually...".
　Especially now. I can't say it in front of the public.

　So I shut up, and I killed it.

"...phew.

　Lina glanced sideways at me with her face turned to the stage.
　I sighed as if to say, "Good grief.

　'Yes, yes, I know,' followed by 'Oh dear, when are you going to be honest with me?', I felt like that.

　　　　　☆

"Runaway Slime.

　The next day, the hall of audience.
　As usual, I was performing my duties after hearing reports from the vassals under Mimis on a random basis, but somehow a key word caught my ear that caught my attention.
　Slime--slime lord.

　The fact that it was the same family of the monster I had defeated before made me curious about the story.
　That was correct, in a way.

　Mimis continued to report further.

''Haha, ever since your highness defeated the Slime Lord before, the slime in the Cano family's territory has been quiet for a while now.
You mean it went out of control?
You've lost your grip on power and your ability to lead.
I see.
What do you want to do?

　Mimis asked me.
　I didn't listen to him, which was rare, but I asked for details, so he asked for my decision, not the way I planned to do it.

'When you say runaway, it's just slime, right?'
Ha, there are a few of them, but they're not much more than slime.
You're going to be fine.
"As you wish.

　　　　　★

....

　In the afternoon, after my office hours were over, I was relaxing in the garden - but
　My mind was stuck on the runaway slime that Mimis had reported.

　It's kind of like a worm's notice.
　A hunch, you might say.

　I have a feeling that something out of the ordinary is about to happen in this case.
　My gut's telling me that.

　If it had nothing to do with me, I wouldn't have cared, but I took down the slime lord a while ago.
　I'm sure that's what happened.　It's like.

' ... it's no use.

　If it's really my fault something happens, I can't overlook it.

　　　　　☆

　Aegean Meadow.
　I came to where I'd beaten the slime lords before.

　Sneaking away, alone.
　Without letting anyone know, by myself.

　If I had to do something, I didn't want to be seen.
　But even if they didn't see me, they would know by the traces, but I still came alone, just in case.

　I walked for a while in the grasslands for a while, heading towards the place where the runaway slime was reported to be.

'Ooh, there's a straw.'

　After walking for a while, I found a swarm of slimes swarming for food.

　In terms of numbers alone, there were twice as many as when I defeated the slime lords before.
　But all of them were just slime.

''Well it's true, isn't it?''

　Just in case.
　I observed, just in case.

　Yeah, I knew it.
　Everything here is just slime.
　Just the weakest monster slime, instinctively swarming around the food that the people offered to keep them away.

　And.

"Is that........cannibalism?

　If you look closely, you'll see that there are too many slimes, partly because of the lack of food, and partly because slime and slime are fighting each other, and the slime that won is taking in the slime that lost - and sticking.

　Because of that, the number of slimes was gradually decreasing.

　Even the weakest of the slimes, and now they were destroying themselves.
　More and more, there was no need for me to leave.

　Relieved, I left the Aegean Grassland without doing anything.

　　　　　☆

　The next day, in the theater.
　For some reason, Lina came to sit with me again.

'I've heard the story,'
What are you talking about?
I heard you took down the slime.
'What?　No, no, no, I didn't, I didn't.

　I said with confidence.
　Well, I didn't do anything.
　I just went out there and I didn't--

I've got information that you were seen at the site.
Mmm.

　You've been watched.
　No, but no problem.

　I can say with confidence that this time I did nothing.

"I didn't do anything.
Huh?

　Lina sighed.
　A sigh I've heard before.

'I know, that's how you want it to be.
'What?　No, no, no.

　Lina is apparently mistaken in a grand way.

'I really didn't do anything, believe me.
You always do. You don't have to hide it from me, do you?
No, no, no, so I didn't really do it.

　I was impatient.
　Lina is convinced, she's convinced.
　She's convinced that I'm the one who ran amok and killed the slime.

　Her reaction is the same as before: "Yes, yes, I know".

"But you're just as meticulous as I am.
Care?
There was no sign of him at all.

　That's because I didn't do anything.

"I'm impressed with how you went to such great lengths to cover your tracks. I'm impressed you went through the motions against the slime.
It's really not.
...phew.

　Another sigh.
　A gasping sigh that goes beyond "yes, yes, I know," to "oh dear, when are you going to be honest with me?

'Well, facts are facts, I'll give you a compliment in a nutshell. It's an exemplary figure for a nobleman and a lord to go out on his own, even if it's a trivial matter.

　Praised.
　Lina's eyes were dumbfounded, but she had a favorable color in them for the 'what I did' itself.

'I really didn't do anything,'

　I defended myself, but Lina is good.

'Yes, yes, I know,'

　And he spurned me as he said the words.