Within the last month of the Fall season.
The trees' leaves have finally fallen, leaving them naked. Slimes, which were weak in the early Fall, have now grown so strong that only those beyond level 15 can hunt them down.
Making the citizens of the town go back within the wall to keep themselves safe. Stopping the children's slime hunting events.
Within this moment, Nine is currently being watched by five people, running away from nine slimes with sizes ranging from 4 to 6 meters high.
Nine has never tried to keep his identity a secret for being the slime-killer salt and has been opened by it, from the very beginning.
As the spectators watched, Nine swiftly dodged all the slime chunks ' attack, and they wondered when he was gonna attack.
"How long has he been dodging now?" A man asked.
"Twenty minutes.... I think?" A woman replied.
"Tch. Here I thought I was gonna watch something good because of the rumor." A wolf beastman retorted. Annoyed by Nine actions.
Nine feeling the stares of the spectators, wondered what they were doing. Seeing that they were only watching him, he decided to end this.
Rounding up the slimes to circle him, Nine loops around the field, letting the smaller slimes chase after him.
Within a moment, Nine is now being chased by the entire slime group in the area, with more than thirty-two slimes on him.
"His surrounded!" A young lady screamed, seeing Nine completely covered by the slime's body, leaving no open area to escape to.
"Shit! Looks like we have to help now." The wolf beastman said, pulling out the great sword on his back.
"Ready?" The woman with red hair said to the man, raising her staff and summoning fire to blast the slimes.
"Yes!" The man replied to her. "Seems like his salt isn't affected on the slime anymore?"
"Maybe? I mean those slimes are high-level ones." The wolf beastman said, using the system command: [Appraisal].
"The lowest is around level 9, while the highest is on level 26." He said, charging towards where Nine is, being at least fifteen meters away.
"Finally!" Nine said, seeing he was completely surrounded. "This took too long to do....."
Nine looking at the three running towards him, seeing how they had their spells and weapons out, he knew this wasn't the time to talk.
"Cover yourself!" The lady said, giving Nine ten seconds to do it.
Seeing Nine motionless inside, the lady wondered if he was in too much fear of the number of enemies around him, that he couldn't move anymore.
Then suddenly she heard Nine whisper the word: "Strip," With those words, the core of the slimes suddenly shot out of their body, resulting in their death.
"What!?" The three exclaimed at the same time, seeing what just happened before them.
Without the slime's core, their body melted into the ground, giving Nine an open area to leave his position.
He locked eyes with the core below his feet and then sent all of them into his bracelet.
Leaving only the slime remains, moving towards the three, he quietly said: "Thanks for the help."
Watching Nine make his way back to the town, the three moved closer to each other, and the wolf beastman said:
"Mission done. Great job you guys." Before the lady used a teleportation spell, to leave the area.
-----
Entering the guild, Nine made his way to where Elaine was and placed the slime core on the table.
Without saying a word to each other, Elaine took them and started counting how much he'll receive from them.
"Congrats," Elaine said. "You earn more than 432 silver coins today." Placing them at the table.
"Thanks." Nine replied, putting the money into his bracelet.
"As expected of Gold-Rich, earning that much when it's not even 12 in the afternoon." A man said, among the other adventurers, gossiping about Nine's earnings.
Elaine looked around the guild, seeing most of the adventurers' eyes latch onto them. "So.... When are you gonna take a quest that isn't a herb collecting?" Elaine asked.
"Why? Do I need to?" Nine said, confused by her words.
"..... I don't know if you know this, but you're the only one who still hasn't taken any other quest besides the herb-collecting quest. Those who become adventurers after you, are already in Rank E or D."
"Sorry, but I still don't have any plan for taking the other quest other than that. Besides, as long as those—" Nine stopped his words, realizing what he was about to say.
"Sorry, gonna go now. I'm going to a weapon shop to see if the requested item I asked for is ready." Nine said, leaving the guild.
Watching Nine leave, Elaine whispered: "At least he actually listened to that request of mine."
After Nine obtained his new title, he learned that the actual strength of this command is by using it to monster like slime, to be precise, a creature whose main weakness is its core.
Back then, when Nine was still using his rune-infused paper and salt-killing slime, he wondered in mid-battle: 'Should I... Use that command I obtained yesterday?'
When Nine whispered the word: Strip, he watched the core of the slime he was fighting at that time fly out of their body.
Combining this with what he experienced from the last time he used it, he came to a conclusion:
That's the command: Strip, can get rid of anything that isn't the same structure as your main mass.
Just like his natural body is dominant over his clothes, the core of the slimes is dominated by their jelly-like substance, making this small thing shoot out of their body.
Since then, Nine stopped using the slime-killing salt, unless necessary, and has been using this command on the slimes, earning an amount of money that none have seen in hunting regular slimes.
Earning him a new nickname: "Gold-Rich," since he has been earning a gold or two each time he sells the core in the guild.
As the Fall season goes on, the slimes start to get stronger than ever before, and the quantity of their spawning also declines.
Leaving him to round them all together and let them chase after him to take them all out in one go.
Entering the weapon shop he went to on the first day, Nine made his way to one of the corners to look for anything new, as he did, he thought of what Elaine said earlier.
'Other quest.....' Nine wanted to take another quest, but he couldn't, mostly because he knew he was still being watched by the Authorities of this world.
"Those three earlier.... They're one of the seven watchers on me."
After Nine cleared his first quest, he knew people were watching his actions, from what he knew from his observation, he had at least seven people watching him.
One piece of proof that this is real is how people learn about how much he earned in his first quest, leading people to rob him, by taking his quest.
A rumor about how much he earned back then shouldn't have been possible, since Nine had a private meeting when he got the reward money for his quest.
So, how did people learn that he earned gold coins on his first quest?
Easy, someone closed with the people in that meeting, spreading this private meeting context.
"Sheila said, someone told them how much I earn back then. A man around 5'10, with black hair that looks like seaweed with a deep voice...."
"This guy should be the last one of the seven, that's been keeping watch over me.... Sigh, I can't even take another quest because of this." Nine muttered, feeling down about it.
*****
End of chapter 28.