“Thank you all very much for gathering here today. I hope we can use this roundtable for discussion in a relaxed manner.” Out of respect for today’s guests, Guido kicked off the meeting in a rather polite manner—not to say that he was ordinarily quite rude.
Despite his best wishes, it was nigh impossible for Dahlia to relax. This was the Scalfarottos’ villa, or Volf’s estate. Unfortunately, he himself was absent—yesterday, giant boars had attacked a caravan carrying fruit along the highway, so the Beast Hunters had been dispatched to tackle the problem. He had sent a note saying that he was “going to make some delicious bacon.” Dahlia wasn’t worried, and she had tried some herself—it truly was delicious. Maybe she ought to pray for the boars’ souls, just as she had done for the armored crabs days earlier.
Sitting together at this round table for this roundtable were Guido, Jonas, Ivano, and Dahlia; that much was natural, as this was partly for the Rossetti Trading Company to meet with the Scalfarotto Family Weapons Development Team. However, it was perplexing that the other members were here.
Beside Guido was Bernigi, the gray-haired elderly man from the field training, who had introduced himself as a former vice-captain of the Beast Hunters’ and as former Marquis D’Orazi—that last part had made Dahlia turn pale. He had pleasantly greeted her and thanked her again for the other day. The others were shocked that the two were already acquainted, but it wasn’t the right time and place to go into details. She couldn’t help but wince at how rude she had been, as well as at the Goddess of Athlete’s Foot and Galeforce Bow bits.
Continuing on, there was Leone Jedda, guildmaster of the Merchants’ Guild; Augusto Scarlatti, vice-guildmaster of the Adventurers’; Idaealina Nicoletti, chief researcher at the slime farm; Viscount Fortunato Luini, guildmaster of the Tailors’; and Lucia Fano, head manager of the Magical Garment Factory. This was supposed to be an internal meeting with the Weapons Development Team to discuss the viscoelastic material made with yellow slime, yet inexplicably assembled here were the former head of a marquisate and the top brass of various guilds. Dahlia was so tense that a frog seemed to be hopping in her throat, and the fragrant black tea that the maid had served her seemed to be too much for her stomach right now.
After a round of simple introductions, a smiling Ivano distributed sheets of parchment. “This here is the Rossetti Trading Company’s emblem.” One was in color, the other a monochromatic stamp; Dahlia was uneasy having her design displayed, though the others smiled and nodded in approval.
“Is this your own design, Dahlia?” Leaning over and whispering was Lucia, who smiled from ear to ear when Dahlia replied in the affirmative. “It’s very you two.”
“It’s who now?”
“Oh, the red flower is you, and the black dog is Sir Volf, are they not? Since when did he join the company anyway?”
Petrification in three, two, one. Once Dahlia understood the situation, she tried her damnedest to quietly explain herself. “No, no. The flower is the company, and the black dog is to ward off monsters, and he never mentioned anything about joining the company!” Midway through, Dahlia was not so quiet anymore, though she was the only one who failed to notice that. Lucia simply said, “Oh, I see,” while Guido looked on with a doll-like smile, Ivano pressed a finger to his brow, and the others stared at their parchment—an awkward silence, for some reason.
Surprisingly, it was Bernigi who threw her a lifeline. “’Tis a fine company emblem. The watchdog protecting the flower, the flower covering the watchdog’s back—a beautiful thing.”
“Thank you very much...” What a nice person, thought Dahlia, perhaps naively. He had been the vice-captain of the Beast Hunters at one point in time and had probably led a lot of knights; perhaps that was why he was so considerate. She could learn something from him.
“Here you are, Chairwoman.” Ivano must’ve deliberately changed the topic for her too. He handed her a case of the prototypes, the cue for Dahlia to step into the limelight.
“This is the product I would like everyone’s opinion on: a soft fabric enchanted with yellow slime.” She was too ashamed to show everyone the embroidered shirt, so she had instead enchanted a two-centimeter-thick section of cloth. However, perhaps because she hadn’t been in the zone—or because she hadn’t been drunk enough—the slime mixture hadn’t formed into a sphere this time, and she’d had to enchant it on the workbench. The outcome seemed to be just about the same, but she figured she needed to work out what had happened. “This is the thicker version made of a cotton fabric, enchanted with a mixture of powdered kingsnake shed, pennyroyal extract, armored crab acid, and high-quality yellow slime.”
“Kingsnake and armored crab? This fabric makes great use of monsters.” Guido sounded quite impressed.
“The materials are quite similar to those in the waterproof cloth and the raincoat; those require powdered sandworm instead of powdered kingsnake shed and blue slime instead of yellow.”
“You have employed a great variety of monster materials, I see.”
“I thought slimes were nothing but irksome little creatures. Never did I know they could be put to use to such a great extent.”
Guido and Bernigi overturned the sample to compare its front and back sides, while Lucia examined the fabric. That left Forto waiting as he chatted with the table, but the demonstration part would come soon, and hopefully he wouldn’t get impatient before then.
“It is quite the unique texture. If durable enough, it would do well for more than lining armor.”
Augusto agreed with Leone. “I like how it can be bent and stretched to a high degree. It might work well to make surfaces nonslip.”
Dahlia’s audience was having fun, marveling at the squishiness of the sample, but Idaea was particularly excited—the head researcher’s periwinkle eyes gleamed as she squished and let go, squished and let go. “The tactility is simply wonderful. I love how slimelike it is!”
“If you would like, please take a sample home with you, Ms. Idaea. I have a thicker version as well.”
“Thank you so much, Ms. Dahlia!” Her delightful smile brought joy to the rest of the room.
“This here is the thick version. I have more studying to do regarding its physical appearance.” The color and roundness of the next prototype that Dahlia brought out was evocative of the yolk of a gigantic boiled egg. It was somewhat stiffer than a slime, though that comparison might not have been too helpful, as opportunities to feel a slime were hardly common. “It compresses when slowly pressed down, yet a raw egg will not crack when dropped on it.”
When this cushion-like version was slowly squeezed, it contoured around the hand, molding itself into the gaps between one’s fingers. When released, it slowly reverted to its original shape. An egg drop test like the ones that had been conducted in her previous life would have been perfect here, but Dahlia made do with a glass paperweight. Puff—the air was pressed out, and the paperweight stayed in position. It had been dropped from quite a height, but it had not bounced off, nor had the glass or the material suffered any damage. When the paperweight was removed, the prototype reverted to its original shape.