"So, she wasn't kidding about the attraction thing?" Zalroth stated to himself in surprise. Finding himself in the town's largest plaza, the echoes of distinct clanging metal were heard throughout the area from the tall mine's entrance, which was situated behind the plaza. No matter where he looked, the entire plaza was filled with the hustle and bustle of people setting up various booths; each containing all sorts of carnival attractions or custom constructions for people to test.

  "It does seem like the kind of thing the Craft-Squad would participate in," Kaze mentioned as he flicked his sunglasses back onto his forehead. Metsu quietly and mindlessly nodded her head, barely paying attention to the current conversation as she nibbled on some of her travel supply meat cubes.

  "Like you wouldn't believe, the second Nagami mentioned it on those walkie-talkie devices the craft team was basically demanding Kaigorou set up a portal so they could participate," yai announced flamboyantly, stylishly sliding across the tiled road with her bare, gelatin feet before striking a pose to show off her new outfit.

  [Yai is wearing only a puffy, knee-low, dark purple, silk, hooded robe-like coat with a black fluffy inside; it also has five silver hoops around the hem of the coat, each socketed with a ruby]

  [Her entire body was now entirely made of dark grey gelatin-like slime]

  At the mention of Nagami's long-range communication artefact, Zalroth lightly scoffed as something donned on him and remarked, "Did she really reverse engineer the mechanism behind that earring in half a night? Although that would explain why she took until morning to get on me about almost dying."

  "Hey! Less thinking and more admiring my clothing," Yai demanded, bouncing on the spot with great vigor and elasticity. Seeing the slime-turned girl's enthusiasm, Zalroth reluctantly scratched his cheek with mental exhaustion and decided to check out the status of her coat.

  [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)]

  [Robe of The Soveriegn(Very Rare)][Level: 385]

  [Intelligence: 4,855]

  [Defence: 2,075]

  [Hexa Restoration]

  -When Hexa is applied to the material, it and everything it's a part of are restored-

  [Hexa Abundance] x5

  -Increases the user's Max Hexa by 300%-

  [Silver Veil]

  -Elemental RES increased by 40%-

  "You chose slime so you'd be allowed to wear little clothes," Metsu pointed out, causing Yai to lightly snicker.

  "It seems Nakamai has rubbed off on you," Zalroth grumbled, too disinterested in the conversation to attempt to argue with her, while Kaze whispered that Zalroth should be more careful with his wording.

  "Whatever are you saying? Are you implying I'm something?" Yai said teasingly while wiggling her gooey fingers at the unamused Metsu and Kaze.

  "A stripp-"

  Flinging herself at and tackling Metsu to the ground to silence her, Yai's slime body shifted to a pink hue, her embarrassment palpable as she shouted in a whisper, "That word doesn't mean what you think it means! I'd have preferred the thing Zalroth called Nakamai over that."

  As her brain raced, Yai jumped off of Metsu before dashing in front of Zalroth and asking, "I totally forgot to ask, you doing okay? Nagami was basically talking about your condition every other second over the walkie-talkie thing. But, you seem alright now."

  "I think she exaggerated my condition. I mean, she over-healed me by over three times before I even went to sleep," Zalroth explained, speaking with a hint of glee as he reminisced on not getting any sleep the night prior because a sleeping Nagami kept pressing her fist in his face.

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  "I figured, but you never know, she's usually pragmatic about that stuff," Yai remarked playfully while Metsu slowly rose upward from the ground like a PNG in a video, having summoned Nero underneath herself to carry her.

  "Yeah, well, you'd be like that too if you saw someone get hurt by something you've made," Zalroth remarked amusedly whilst peering around, slightly concerned Nero's emergence would startle people. But, in opposition to Zalroth's expectations, the residents of Gronoville paid the shadow copies' existence no mind, some even commenting on how interesting he was and how they'd never seen an elemental creature in person before.

  "I suppose monsters being domesticated would be a common occurrence in this world, wouldn't it?" Zalroth muttered in his mind as he watched Yai join Metsu on Nero's back, marvelling at how cool the shadow copy was in person.

  "I see the Crafting Fair really has caught all of our saviours' attention," the captain of the town guard remarked as he approached the congregation of otherworlders, no longer sporting his steel helmet he'd been wearing the night of the attack.

  [Naz, the Captain of the Town Guard, is a very tall, muscular human male in his early twenties; he has deep blond hair, blond eyes, and tanned skin]

  [Naz is wearing steel-plated armour]

  "Woah, your voice made me think you were at least fifty or something," Metsu said, the surprise of Naz's youthful appearance slapping the weird speech habit out of her. Naz couldn't help letting out a deep chuckle, amused that everyone says the same thing when they hadn't seen his face before.

  "So I'm told."

  "You said this is the Crafting Fair?" Yai asked as she lounged atop Nero like the shadow copy was a giant stuffed toy, hugging him tightly to not let him escape.

  "Ah, yes, as I was saying. Once a month, the craftsmen of Gronoville set up a festival to show off their creations alongside the many more traditional festival games," Naz explained to the group before adding, "If you're interested in partaking, it'll be occuring a day later than usual, given the monster attack yesterday interupted last nights preparations."

  "Perhaps, she left me off easy, if all she asked me to do was break through a wall," Zalroth thought to himself with some gratitude that Nagami didn't make him help the Craft-Squad.

  "It seems there's one extra from yesterday," Zalroth muttered aloud, with Yai asking if all those golems in the mine weren't supposed to be there. Mildly surprised at Zalroth's statement, Naz found himself asking, "I suppose, Reino must have mentioned it while you were at his shop then?"

  "No, Zalroth can detect monsters," Metsu revealed.

  "I see, but you don't need to worry about dealing with the issue of the random increase in golems on the first floor of the mine," Naz stated reassuringly, adding the town had already sent a quest to the adventurer's guild branch in Kroutella yesterday.

  "Why'd you have to go and say that?" Yai grumbled disapointedly, as a strong woosh of wind washed past her and Metsu.

  "What ever might you mean, young lady?" Naz asked politely, wondering what he could've said that upset her. Yai silently gestured behind her to the mine entrance, where Zalroth was on his knees, distressed and despairing over the fact that he couldn't enter the mines without an entry pass.

  In Reino's testing ground backyard, Nagami had her arms crossed, an expression of annoyed expectations and reluctant excitement on her face as Zalroth and co stood before her. Knowing more than likely what Zalroth was here for, Nagami let out a sigh of resignation as she spoke, "Mine?"

  "Mine," Zalroth said without reservations.

  "Don't you need a pass or something?"

  "Naz gave me a multi-pass."

  "Who?"

  "Captain of the town guard."

  "Ah, should have figured...," Nagami mouthed quietly, shaking her head as she disappointedly contemplated what to do. Thinking it over, but mostly about the lack of certain materials for the Crafting-Squad's Crafting Fair project, Nagami reluctantly caved, reasoning that if Zalroth was going into the cave anyway, she could at least have him get materials for the group.

  "Fine... I'll make you a pickaxe but only if you agree to avoid any fighting unless that monster has a material we need, deal?" Nagami offered, showing no signs of budging on her demands by even an inch.

  "Can I get it in pink?" Zalroth requested, making Nagami roll her eyes teasingly.

  "Duh," Nagami retorted, turning on her heel before trotting her way over to the newly constructed wooden shed in the corner of the Reino's backyard.

  "Where'd that shed come from?" Zalroth asked as he watched Nagami enter it, followed by the sound of clanging metal from within banging through the air.

  "Mr Smith allowed Kaigorou to set up his portal in his backyard so the Craft-Squad could participate in the Crafting Fair," Yai explained proudly as she planted her fists on her hips, her body wobbling like jello from the weak impact.

  "And the shed?"

  "Neil made it, duh," Metsu uttered, mildly amused that Zalroth didn't put together that the out-of-place wooden structure was Neil's handywork.