Meanwhile, the queen, who was away on an expedition, finally learned of the situation in the royal capital. After all, it was impossible to completely cover up such a big event.
Although those who tried to enter the royal capital for information might have been controlled and brainwashed, the information received by some people in villages outside was difficult to monitor.
People might not believe it at first, but by investigating villages near the royal capital, they would obtain accurate information. Putting it all together, although it seemed absurd, everyone had to accept the facts.
"Your Majesty the Queen, should we return now?" Thinking this, the shadow guard spoke nervously.
"No rush. What is the current situation in the royal capital? Have people's lives improved?" Although shocked that her country had been suddenly replaced by a Hero, Mirellia was more concerned about whether the citizens were being exploited by Takeru.
"Well, although we haven't entered the royal capital to investigate the specifics, the villages we visited have seen their living standards improve. The people speak of the new emperor with smiles and respect. Several problems with monsters or famines have also been resolved. Many lords have also been executed for corruption."
"The royal capital has undergone massive renovations, and roads connecting all the villages are being built." Hearing the queen's words, the shadow guard reported what he had seen.
"Is that so? I see. Continue your surveillance. There's one more country we need to negotiate with. We can't return to the royal capital just yet." Learning that the people's lives were going well, the queen finally relaxed. Although she was somewhat worried about her family's situation, she still wanted to help the kingdom finish this last task.
Even though the kingdom had changed hands, she wouldn't feel too much grief or pain about no longer being queen. On the contrary, knowing that the citizens' lives had improved under Takeru's rule made her completely relieved.
Takeru had achieved what she had always wanted to do but found difficult to accomplish.
She would definitely return to the royal capital, but not to retake the throne or start a war. Instead, she wanted to assess Takeru's character.
If Takeru truly was so capable, then her daughter Melty should be treated well.
This wasn't just speculation... it was putting herself in Takeru's shoes. If she were in Takeru's position, she would have no reason to harm Melty.
...
On the other side, after Naofumi left, Takeru entered his portable space. Although Takeru hadn't been putting mana into the portable space lately, the various spiritual plants and monsters improved the space's mana concentration. As the mana concentration increased, the portable space grew on its own.
Because of this, the portable space's side length had exceeded three kilometers. The growth and reproduction of the various monsters were normal.
After entering, as usual, Takeru collected a batch of spiritual plants, then went to the central area to collect the slimes' products.
It was worth mentioning that the slime that had devoured the biochemical plant's vines had evolved into a Vine Slime, and the slime that had devoured the biochemical plant's venom had evolved into a Venom Slime.
[Vine Slime: Evolved by devouring the vines of a mutant plant. All attributes enhanced. Can release vines for attack, and can manipulate ordinary vine plants.]
[Venom Slime: Evolved by devouring a large amount of special venom. Contains a large amount of corrosive venom inside. All attributes enhanced. Can rapidly produce large quantities of acidic venom, store it in its body, and then attack enemies. It can also be used as a special venom bomb to blast enemies.]
Looking at the new slimes, they didn't have much use besides adding variety to the slime collection. Whether manipulating vines or releasing venom attacks, both were somewhat useless to Takeru.
Of course, while useless to Takeru, these two slimes were still extremely threatening in this world, especially the Venom Slime.
Using long-range magic attacks would be fine. But in close combat, even if the slime was killed, the weapon attacking it might be corroded by the venom.
If a person touched it, unless they carried high-level holy water from this world to survive, they would almost certainly die, or could cut off the infected area before the venom penetrated the body.
Also, when a normal Venom Slime uses its blast attack, it would sustain damage but wouldn't die. It would recover slowly. Only then could subsequent attacks possibly kill it.
After collecting the products of the other slimes, Takeru picked up a new attribute-less slime.
Because after receiving the storage bracelet, Takeru thought: since slimes could devour any substance and evolve, could he infuse one with space attributes and evolve it into a Space Slime, which could at least serve as a new storage device?
Thinking this, Takeru began converting his own mana into space energy and started transmitting it to the attribute-less slime, having it devour the space-attribute mana.
As it devoured, Takeru noticed the attribute-less slime found it very difficult to devour the space-attribute energy, but it could do so steadily and continuously.
As time passed, three hours went by quickly. Under Takeru's constant observation, the slime became increasingly ethereal, its color turning pitch black.
Finally, as the slime emitted a flash of black light, it completed its transformation. Its color became gray-black. Standing there, it appeared very indistinct.
[Space Slime: Evolved by devouring a large amount of space-attribute mana. Can learn space-attribute magic. Contains five cubic meters of internal space, can freely store items. As the Space Slime grows, its internal space can also increase (Note: Due to the influence of space energy, devouring and absorbing items and mana will only enhance the slime itself, and it can no longer reproduce).]
Looking at the description of the Space Slime through his Reincarnation Watch, Takeru was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected its special reproductive ability to disappear, replaced by a growth ability.
Thinking this, Takeru directly manifested a bracelet and a ring, then gave both items to the Space Slime to devour.
Receiving Takeru's order, the space-attribute slime quickly devoured the bracelet and the ring.
"Use mimicry. Turn into a bracelet." After it finished devouring, Takeru spoke directly.
As Takeru's words fell, the Space Slime quickly transformed and turned into a bracelet. Takeru picked up the bracelet and put it on his hand. He then checked its internal space, finding it very similar to the storage bracelet, requiring mana infusion to use.
Besides that, ordinary people could also use it by directly commanding it to store or retrieve items. Although not very convenient, this method didn't require special mana.
Of course, one point was that without the slime's recognition, one couldn't access its internal space. That meant if someone else got the Space Slime, they couldn't easily open the space inside its body unless their mana could break through the Space Slime's spatial defense.
After some research, Takeru provided a large amount of spiritual plants and magic ore stones for the slime to devour.
As its internal mana increased, its internal space rapidly expanded. After about three hours, the Space Slime's internal space had grown to about ten cubic meters.
Because the slime could survive solely on ambient mana in the air, it could be conveniently used as a normal storage bracelet.
Then, Takeru began teaching the Space Slime. After all, having such good space mana, it would be a waste to use it just as a container. So, Takeru planned to teach it how to use space mana.
Before teaching, Takeru began testing it to see if it already had any space-attribute skills.
After some testing, Takeru discovered it had the ability to teleport. However, unlike normal teleportation, its teleportation distance was very short, only about ten meters maximum. Its cooldown was only about one second, making it very flexible.
Besides teleportation, it only had the abilities to store and devour objects.
Seeing this, Takeru began teaching it. First, Space Blade. A Space Blade is a cutting wave constructed from space attributes. It has extremely fast speed and strong penetrating power. Coupled with the concealment of space attacks, it is a very powerful ability.