By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories

Caulkin’s Initial Intent

“Goodnight, Caulkin.”

“Mhm, see you tomorrow. Pleasant dreams.”

I parted ways with Tony in the hallway of the employee lodging, then went straight back to my room and collapsed onto my bed. The day was exhausting, but fulfilling. That was, of course, because I finally knew something that had stymied so many researchers before me. I learned the conditions for slime evolution.

Unfortunately, I didn’t accomplish this on my own. Rather, I heard about it from my boss who made the discovery. For the time being, though, that refreshing feeling of learning took priority. It was like I’d reached a milestone in life.

The main condition for slime evolution was food. It was so simple, and yet that theory was widely dismissed. It was a complete blind spot. Not to make excuses for my own failure to see it, but my boss was most likely able to make the discovery thanks to a childlike lack of common sense.

When we asked how he came to his conclusion, he smiled and answered us with amusement. The way he looked had brought back a deluge of memories. There was a time when I used to smile the same way, though it had been long forgotten.

Everyone gets into research for different reasons. For the boss, it was slimes, but for me, it was fairies. For as long as I can remember, studying was my only redeeming quality. As with the son of any noble, I was somewhat forced to learn magic and swordsmanship, but I was slow to improve and utterly hopeless at either.

But one day, after my despised swordsmanship class was over and I went outside to cool off, I saw a light floating in a forest near the training grounds. I thought it was a firefly at first. This forest was thought to be mostly safe, but entering it alone was forbidden. Maybe my mind was hazy from the fatigue of sword fights, though, because my curiosity drew me to follow the light. My swordsmanship teacher must not have been paying attention, because he didn’t stop me from setting foot inside the forest, where I saw the fairy.

Fairies are a humanoid type of monster. Even the largest of them can fit on the palm of an adult’s hand. They thrive in environments full of nature, and generally prefer warm climates. Fairies seldom show themselves around humans, and they never try to harm humans unless they’re threatened.

Being someone who was only good at studying, this was the first time in my life that I was thankful for something. Before I could think twice, I was mustering up all my magical energy and trying to form a contract with the fairy. That was just how beautiful and glorious it was. My surprise only grew when the fairy didn’t reject my contract.

Fairies are as much a monster as any other, and they’re excellent at magic. Their small, weak appearance masks their immense amounts of magical energy. They’re considered extremely difficult to form a contract with, and they usually react by resisting and causing any attempts to fail. I succeeded easily. The fairy I found seemed to be friendly. My teacher and parents later scolded me for entering the forest without permission, but they accepted the fairy, whose name was Mariage, as my familiar. We abruptly parted ways several years later, but we spent almost all our time together until then.

I don’t know how I forgot all of this. I was obsessed with the fairy at the time. I didn’t care about gaining greater power or influence in the world; I just wanted to know more. I played with Mariage during the day, asking her many questions. At night, I stayed up late writing down everything I learned about fairies, receiving criticism from my parents and teachers.

Even then, it still wasn’t enough. Seeking to become a monster researcher, I joined a laboratory, all because I wanted to research fairies. But at some point, that ambition disappeared, and I only cared about achieving something, anything. If Mariage saw me now, I wonder what she would think. Better now than if she saw me at the laboratory, at least. I was in a dire state at the time.

It might be nice to start researching fairies again sometime. There was my job and the slime research to focus on now, but I could simply do it as a hobby. Maybe putting aside some time to just indulge in research for research’s sake could be good. Thankfully, working at this laundromat gave me ample time and income. Once I saved up some money, I could take a vacation to search for slimes and fairies. My boss seemed to have great strength for his age, and my old friend Leipin was an A-Rank adventurer. If I asked for their help, I could possibly go into some dangerous territory. Even just thinking about it was getting me excited.

That was a path that had already closed to me once before, but trying to wander back onto it could be interesting. Living with childlike wonder and trying to learn everything I could didn’t sound like a bad idea. And if I wanted to make sure I could do that, I needed to keep putting in my best effort at work tomorrow.