By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter SS2

Maria’s Lesson

In the break room at Bamboo Forest, two women were chatting. One was bright and cheerful, while the other looked concerned. A third woman approached them.

“I’m back!” said Maria.

“Oh, there you are,” said Jane.

“Maria, are you all right?” asked Fina. “You were called about what happened the other day, right?”

“I’m fine!” said Maria. “The boss warned me about managing the slimes, but he wasn’t mad at me! He was happy, actually!”

“See, what’d I tell you?” said Jane. “The boss would never shout at someone over something so silly. You worry too much, Fina.”

“Maybe I do, but those cleaner slimes are important to the boss, and to this establishment. What if something happened to them?” Fina argued to explain herself, seemingly aware that she was overthinking it.

“Sure, I get it,” Jane said, not actually interested. “So are you going to be changing jobs or something, Maria?”

“Not really! I was just told that if a slime suddenly wants to eat something different, that could mean it’s going to evolve and impact our work, so we need to isolate it. Then the boss will just take it in to look after on his own.”

Jane laughed. “Yeah, I figured. The boss sure loves slimes.”

“I’m glad to hear that nothing happened,” said Fina.

“Yeah, but I ought to learn how to control slimes a bit better,” said Maria. The commotion ended with only minor damage, but it was caused by Maria’s failure to properly manage the slimes. She was usually an airhead, but she knew when she made mistakes.

“Speaking of which, how does taming magic let you control monsters?” asked Fina.

“Lots of ways, from what Lobelia told me!” Maria answered. “For example, the boss can apparently communicate with his monsters entirely through his thoughts. But you have to be really compatible for that to work. Most people need to use flutes, whips, food, things like that to make their monsters understand orders. And that takes a bunch of time and training. I do it with my thoughts, but I’m not as good at it as the boss, so I carry the slimes in a basket when they need to be transported. Back when I started the job, I told them to just eat whatever they wanted to eat. I think that’s why that slime ate the charcoal, so I really have to give better orders!”

The casual tone of Maria’s voice didn’t make her sound that serious, but she was reflecting on her mistakes as best she could. As long as she strived to fix her problems, she would likely never be fired.