Who Is the World’s Strongest Appraiser? ~Living in Another World With Satisfying Meals~

Using A Slime To Search For Lost Items

Rooks, the mutated ancient slime that became Yuuri’s familiar, wasn’t always glued to Yuuri every day. When Yuuri went out, Rooks never left his side, fulfilling his duty as a familiar, a lesson taught by Aroru: “Familiars exist to protect their masters.” …Well, Yuuri’s impossible luck stats meant he hardly ever got into danger, though. At least since Rooks became Yuuri’s familiar, nothing bad had happened.

While Yuuri busied himself with chores at the hideout, Rooks often wandered around to avoid getting in the way. He wasn’t just aimlessly roaming around though. Slimes can absorb, decompose, and digest whatever they come across. This allowed them to store energy, making them an incredibly omnivorous life form.

So, Rooks wandered through the hideout, absorbing dust and dirt, essentially cleaning while gathering tiny bits of energy—a double win. The reason? By cleaning the floors, Yuuri would praise him and reward him with delicious food (which often included leftovers and garbage).

Incidentally, Rooks’ favorite food was stir-fried vegetables. He seemed to prefer veggies over meat. Maybe he had a healthy diet preference, though he liked cooked vegetables more than raw ones. Regardless, Rooks was a super convenient familiar who absorbed and processed anything, whether it was leftovers or trash. …Huh? Using a familiar wrong? Let’s not worry about that now.

There was also an event that showed Rooks’ impressive abilities as a mutated ancient slime. Rooks had been cleaning the hideout as usual, even taking care of piles of leaves in the yard. While disposing of a large amount of trash, if he found a foreign object mixed in, he would never absorb or decompose it. Everyone was surprised by this ability to distinguish between trash and valuable items. Specifically, Rooks found a ring that had fallen in the yard, kept it inside his body, and delivered it to Yuuri.

Normally, slimes don’t have that kind of intelligence. Maybe a high-level slime would, but Rooks looked like nothing more than a low-to-mid-level slime. Ali and Aroru, who knew the truth, weren’t surprised at all. As for the others, who thought Rooks was just a regular slime, their reaction was:

“Well, it’s Yuuri’s familiar, so that makes sense.”

They had somehow convinced themselves of this, thinking, “If the master has ridiculous cheat specs, the familiar can’t be ordinary either.” Yuuri tried to object, but Kurresh cut in, saying, “So basically, Rooks is super smart, right? We’re complimenting him.” Yuuri, being a proud “pet parent,” happily accepted the praise, grinning and replying, “Yeah! Rooks is really smart!”

Now, after finishing cleaning the first floor of the hideout, Rooks moved to the yard, where Yuuri was likely to be. Yuuri had just finished hanging laundry and was smiling at the beautiful weather. Rooks approached and gently bumped against Yuuri’s feet. …Mind you, if Rooks hit something with full force, he could easily break through a wall, but knowing his master was fragile, he always held back when dealing with Yuuri.

“What’s up, Rooks? Did you finish cleaning?”

“Kyu-pi!”

“Thanks! But, everyone else needs to clean too, so make sure you only clean after they’ve finished, okay?”

“…Kyu-pii?”

“Learning how to clean and managing time is part of their training too.”

Yuuri stroked Rooks’ head, and the slime happily squealed in response. Seeing this, Yuuri smiled. His adorable slime was his beloved pet. …What? Familiar? Sure, Rooks was technically classified as one, but to Yuuri, he was just a cherished pet.

So, Yuuri decided to take Rooks on a walk. He left today’s grocery shopping to the apprentices. He figured since each apprentice had their own favorite stores, sending them together to the market would allow them to negotiate for discounts in their areas of expertise. If Yuuri always did the shopping, the apprentices wouldn’t grow, so he sometimes tasked them with these errands.

When that happened, the apprentices would even plan the day’s menu. Yuuri would just make small adjustments, and recently, their cooking skills had improved a lot. Now, Yuuri even looked forward to seeing what they’d make, since the apprentices were growing. After all, boys with big appetites had no choice but to work hard.

“Rooks, make sure you don’t bump into anyone, okay?”

“Kyu!”

Rooks was smart, so he didn’t need Yuuri to tell him that. He bounced along at Yuuri’s feet, carefully avoiding bumping into any passersby. He was truly an excellent companion.

The two of them walked around the area near the hideout. Many adventurers lived in this neighborhood, but so did day laborers and others with tight finances, since the rent was cheap. Being close to the gate meant it was the first place to be in danger if something happened. However, with so many adventurers around, most problems were resolved before the knights even showed up.

“…Seems like there’s a bit of a commotion.”

“Kyu…”

“But it doesn’t feel dangerous. …Should we check it out?”

“Kyu-i.”

Yuuri asked out of curiosity, and there was no reason for Rooks to refuse. After all, Rooks is perfectly happy just sticking close to Yuuri. The purpose of a familiar is to serve its master. In the first place, Rooks has no grand ambitions whatsoever. There’s only one desire: to stay by the side of the master he likes. Being an Ancient Slime, a species with a much longer lifespan than humans, even spending a lifetime with Yuuri was just a small part of his existence.

So, Rooks bounced lightly as he followed along by Yuuri’s feet as they walked leisurely. The half-transparent, golden slime with a crown on its head, along with its master, the air-headed boy, had become somewhat well-known in the neighborhood. Being a member of Scarlet Lynx naturally drew some attention.

At their destination, there was a scene of a large pile of overturned garbage, and women standing around it in dismay. The women, who looked like housewives from the lower district, were staling at the pile with troubled expressions. Apparently, the cart they were using to transport the garbage had overturned on the way.

“Oh no… This is a lot of trouble…”

“Oh, Yuuri-kun!”

“Hello. Did it tip over?”

“Yes, and… well, if it was just that, we could clean it up, but…”

The one who sighed was the innkeeper from the neighboring low-town inn, which was adjacent to the hideout. The inn only offered rooms for the night, but thanks to the innkeeper’s outgoing personality, even the rowdy adventurers behaved themselves around her. Someone once said she reminded them of a stern but caring mother from back in the countryside.

“Is there a problem?”

“That young lady over there says her engagement ring is somewhere in that pile of trash…”

“What?! An engagement ring? That’s a big deal!”

“Exactly. Apparently, when the cart tipped over, it hit something, and her ring box got mixed up in the trash…”

The innkeeper pointed to the crying young woman, who appeared to be around twenty years old. She was sobbing, likely devastated that her engagement ring had been lost in the pile of garbage. How pitiful.

While Yuuri was at a loss for what to do, Rooks, for some reason, started moving towards the garbage pile on his own. With a determined “Kyuu!” he began absorbing the garbage bit by bit. Everyone stared at Rooks in confusion, unsure of what he was doing. But Yuuri suddenly had an idea.

“Innkeeper, since this trash is headed for the dump, it’s okay to dispose of it, right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, that’s fine. But, what’s your familiar doing?”

“Go ahead, Rooks! You can do it!”

“Kyuii!”

Rooks, happy that his master understood what he wanted to do, chirped with joy and began rapidly absorbing and breaking down the garbage. To avoid disgusting the onlookers, he lowered his transparency to obscure the process happening inside him. Rooks was considerate like that.

As he absorbed the garbage, he occasionally found objects that weren’t trash but also weren’t the ring he was looking for. Each time, he stored these items in his body—various things accumulated inside him, from small dolls to trinkets and spoons, but still no ring. Undeterred, Rooks continued absorbing the trash efficiently.

Watching Rooks slurp up the garbage like that reminded Yuuri of stories from folklore—magical bags or gourds that could swallow anything. Rooks’s slime form, oozing over the trash as he absorbed it, seemed like a modern version of those myths. Yuuri also recalled how Rooks’s cleaning efforts back at the hideout reminded him of those popular self-cleaning robots.

Eventually, Rooks finished absorbing all the garbage. He had broken it all down, converting it into energy—slimes are incredibly versatile and resilient creatures. Then, with a soft “muu,” Rooks began handing over the items he had stored inside him, one by one. Each time he produced something, like a doll or a spoon, one of the housewives would claim it with an “Oh, that’s ours!” Apparently, they had accidentally thrown these items out with the trash, a mistake not uncommon even in modern times.

“Kyuu!”

Finally, Rooks placed a small box into Yuuri’s hand. The box, now spotless despite having been buried in the trash, was shining as if it were brand new, thanks to Rooks’s ability to absorb all the dirt. Yuuri handed the pristine box to the innkeeper.

“Amazing. Your slime is way too smart!”

“That’s because it’s Rooks!”

“Kyuu!”

Yuuri beamed with pride, and Rooks bounced happily, knowing he was being praised. The innkeeper took the box over to the still-dazed young woman, who, as expected, confirmed that it was indeed her precious engagement ring. She thanked Yuuri and Rooks with tears of relief streaming down her face.

After that day, Rooks became the go-to helper whenever someone needed to find something lost in a pile of garbage—an inevitable result, really.