A few days later, the next set of pearls was removed from the mussels. The cores made from freshwater black mussels had not produced good results. Expecting this, Gabriel had already prepared cores made from other materials. I had tried making one out of fish bones as well. All I could do otherwise was pray to God for success.
The transforming slime had begun to see itself as the master of the lake and was cooperating with the pearl cultivation. When Gabriel arrived, it would lift the net containing the mussels onto shore. It had also learned how to extract the pearls without harming the mollusks. Upon seeing that, Gabriel had realized that if he could get slimes to insert and remove the pearls, it could completely avoid the burden normally inflicted on the mussels. Using slimes for pearl cultivation would be much more effective.
“At first, I was thinking of hiring people from the village to do the job,” he explained. “But since it was the ogre duke family who developed the cultivation technique, I don’t think the knowledge should be spread across Triste. After some thought, I decided to borrow the help of slimes. I selected slimes that were relatively dexterous, tamed them, and taught them the technique. As a result, the experiments will be more efficient now.”
“What an amazing idea, Gabriel!”
“Thank you. However, the project itself hasn’t yielded any good results yet...”
All of the cores had failed thus far, including my fish-bone one. None of them had been coated in the beautiful nacreous layer we were looking for. As Gabriel had said before, the reason was probably an incompatibility between the mussels and the mana in the core.
“What else can we do?” he mused. The experiments had come to a standstill, and he was at his wit’s end. “For now, let’s look for something outside the lake that could be used as a core.”
“That’s a good idea. I doubt any piece of stone lying on the ground will work, though. Maybe it has to be a special item that can only be found in Triste.”
“Only here?”
“Yes. I’m sure something like that would be a good match manawise. What about the slate that’s used for the roofs in this region?”
“Slate absorbs water, so it would need to be waterproofed. I can apply the same slime paint that the roofs use.”
Gabriel immediately got to work. There were a large number of tamed slimes at the pearl-cultivation lake, trained in a variety of roles. There were slimes to look after the mussels, slimes that were skilled at inserting cores, slimes that specialized in extracting pearls, and slimes to provide medical care, among others.
Gabriel called for a material-processing slime, and it bounced up to us. It took the slate into its mouth, turned it into perfect spheres within its body, and spit them out.
“We’re going to make three of these prototypes,” Gabriel instructed. As soon as he said that, the other slimes came over, took the cores, and started inserting them into the shells. “Now we just have to wait three to seven days.”
“Right.” I prayed for success as I watched the net of mussels disappear into the lake.
“This time for sure!” Gabriel muttered under his breath.
Sensing his impatience, I gently wrapped my arms around him from behind.
“Fran?”
“Even if the pearls don’t go the way we want, please don’t torment yourself over them.”
“I know. I really want to see you wearing Triste’s pearls at our wedding ceremony, though.”
It wasn’t my place to deny that desire of his, but at this rate, I was becoming increasingly concerned about what might happen if he drove himself into a corner.
“I’m happy just being able to marry you,” I said. “In fact, I’m happy enough to not need a ceremony at all, let alone the dress. So please don’t worry yourself over making it in time for the wedding. That’s my only wish.”
“Thank you, Fran.” He looked back at me and smiled. The shadow hanging over his expression was gone, and there was a faint light in his eyes.
In the end, the slate cores also failed. However, Gabriel didn’t seem as depressed as before. He was optimistic about the next trial.
None of the experiments thus far had succeeded in producing pearls. The words “give up” appeared at the edge of my thoughts, but I shook my head. If there was anyone who had to keep faith no matter what, it was me. Even if we couldn’t make it in time for the wedding, Triste was capable of cultivating pearls. I kept that hope in my heart as the trials continued.