Demon and Slime
The demon and the slime. I strolled the streets with my party members after leaving the Rainbow Cup. The sky after the rain was clearer and more beautiful than usual. Or perhaps it was because my heart was full that the world's brilliance stood out more vividly. In a single day I'd gained a free base and an untouched lottery ticket that could net me at least three million no matter how badly things went. How could my mood be anything but good?
The world itself hadn't changed from yesterday, yet everything looked different depending on one's feelings and mindset. Condition: excellent. Mood: not bad. Thanks to that, today's world was clear and sunny. My heart felt just as bright. If only that damned Plague Doctor Mask weren't there, I might have stepped into outright cheerful territory. The remnants of the ruined world still cast shadows over my sunny mood like old scars.
I wanted to see a clear sky. Do you know the feeling of sunglasses that won't come off no matter what? Even if you don't, you can probably imagine it—that irritating frustration, like mosquitoes vanishing when you turn on the lights at night, or fruit flies charging your eyes while you eat.
As I walked slowly, savoring the clear sky with my usual worthless monologue, a green leaf drifted down in front of me. It swayed this way and that, as if drunk. Ah, speaking of drunk... old memories suddenly surfaced. I didn't particularly like alcohol since it had no taste, but back in that wretched place called Terraforming, I'd wanted to get drunk more times than I could count. So when I once found a bottle with a slightly peeled label that read something like "Absinthe?", I couldn't resist the craving. I forced it through the filter of my Plague Doctor Mask. The pain had felt like my face was burning, and I realized—truly realized—that alcohol simply wasn't meant to be drunk. It would've been nice if I'd at least gotten drunk. One of my many traits judged dense alcohol as a debuff and broke it down, so I'd only felt pain without any intoxication. A faded, rotting memory that no one would ever care about.
I snatched the leaf, rolled it idly between my thumb and forefinger, then let it go on the wind like my miserable past. I quietly admired the freshness that couldn't be compared to the ruined world, where only withered, ash-coated plants remained like some twisted art installation.
"Every time I see it, the streets here are really pretty."
Unlike the blood-stained asphalt roads of that trash world.
"The streets of Dungeon City are always so fascinating whenever I see them."
"Huh? What's so fascinating, nyang?"
"They're incredibly clean. No horse dung or food waste or anything. Even the Empire's Royal Street that the Emperor uses is clean, but everywhere else is so filthy it's hard to put into words..."
"Nyang? Adventurer, were you from the Empire, nyang?"
"Ah, yes. Did I not mention it?"
"You didn't say a word, nyang! To think you'd come all the way from the distant Empire to Dungeon City. Adventurer, you're really something else, nyang!"
"Hmm. It was certainly quite far."
I followed behind the contractor and the rogue, who chattered like sparrows, and slowly looked around. The well-maintained main road wide enough for carriages, the deep green landscaping trees planted at regular intervals, and the streetlights (?). Just as the contractor said, the streets of Dungeon City were so clean they didn't feel medieval at all. At this point, I wondered if there were even cleaners responsible for street sanitation.
"Nyang? Cleaners? Of course there are cleaners, nyang!"
She said there were. I hadn't expected that. To think they actually existed.
"Ah, they're passing by right over there, nyang!"
"Oh?"
"Ooh."
Following Sion's casual nod, I saw a woman in a green robe that reminded me of pay-per-use trash bags. "Hm-hm-hm~" She skillfully wielded long wooden tongs, picking up trash and tossing it into the large container on her back. The unusual part was the more than ten translucent cyan blobs trailing slowly behind her. They gathered around horse dung and food scraps on the ground, looking rather cute in their orderly huddle.
"...Those things behind her, are they slimes?"
"That's right, nyang. Same species as the ones from the Slime Road in the dungeon, nyang."
Unlike the dungeon ones, these friends had been tamed—brainwashed, really—by a Tamer's [Taming] skill. They only wriggled around collecting food waste, animal carcasses crushed by carriages, and beast droppings. They didn't spray acid at people or threaten them, apparently. Interesting. Very interesting.
Our ever-curious contractor also seemed intrigued by the slimes following the cleaner girl like ducklings. She sent me and Sion a look that clearly said she wanted to see them up close. Since I was fine with anything the contractor wanted to do, and Sion believed more experience was always better, we reached an agreement and carefully crossed to the other side of the road.
When we approached, the cleaner girl gave a silent nod of greeting with a friendly smile. Perhaps she'd built up tolerance from dealing with disgusting and dirty things all the time. Even after seeing my menacing mask, she offered a smile as refreshing as lime. Being someone responsible for cleanliness, her heart seemed incredibly pure as well. It felt like my rotten mind was being bleached.
"Oh my, you want to touch my children? Hehe, you folks are quite unique in many ways."
With Sion's request and the cleaner's permission, we got the chance to touch the slimes that were diligently cleaning the ground.
"Wow, wow wow...!"
The contractor poked the apple-jelly-like surface of a slime with her index finger, murmuring in medieval dialect.
"Kkyu...."
Kkachi had somehow slipped off the contractor's shoulder and was trembling slightly while watching her happily pet another pet(?) besides itself. Kkachi, are you feeling threatened by a living jelly right now?
'Does it really feel that good?'
Even as Kkachi let out pitiful "kkyu-kkyu!" cries beside me, the contractor remained absorbed in fiddling with the slime. My own curiosity was piqued. Normally I preferred not to touch other people's pets and just observe, but this time it was hard to resist. A living green jelly, the mascot monster from famous games—a "slime"—was wriggling right in front of me. How could anyone resist that? Even Shakyamuni would probably have muttered "Amitabha" while petting it.
Of course he would.
"Ahem. The weather is quite nice."
"Crow, what nonsense are you spouting out of nowhere, nyang."
I ignored Sion's attempt to ruin my act of pretending not to care about the slimes and carefully approached one that had separated from the group, melting a rotten leaf. Like a hunter stalking a deer, I moved slowly so as not to startle it.
Tap.
...?
I took a step closer and stood without breathing, worried I might stimulate it unnecessarily. The small slime slowly turned its body toward me. It had neither eyes nor fur, so I couldn't tell how it had detected my presence. Did that dark grain in its center have a heat sensor? Or perhaps its soft, springy body detected vibrations in the air.
While I was thinking this and that, pretending not to care and stealing glances at the slime, something happened.
'Hm?'
The slime, which had been frozen while facing me, began spinning like a robot vacuum and slowly approached. Had it mistaken me for food waste or an animal carcass? Thanks to our Goddess's blessing (or theft), I should be cleaner than a newborn right now. I couldn't understand what was happening.
Whether it was dizzy or not, the slime that had spun its way to my feet began wriggling its body and climbed onto my instep. Then it started rotating in place as if polishing my shoe.
"...Oh."
So this was what they called being chosen. It wasn't a cute stray kitten, but a slime that looked like a touch-play toy abandoned by faceless nephews. Still, it didn't feel bad.
But then a sudden curiosity struck me.
'Do these things feel fear too?'
The same kind of thought that sometimes occurs when seeing slugs crawling on walls on rainy days or pill bugs being burned by a lighter. I looked down at the slime slowly spinning on my shoe and crouched. Then I extended a long finger and pressed down on it. It felt like touching an incredibly soft water balloon. I understood why the contractor was so entranced.
Press.
I applied a little more pressure to the finger that had been barely touching the surface. Then, at some point, the slime stopped spinning. It wriggled its body as if uncomfortable and struggled to push my finger away. And then, suddenly—
"Oh...."
It began emitting a very faint fear, so subtle it would be hard to properly savor without concentration. Even this insignificant creature crawling on the ground possessed fear.
"You must have been startled. I'm sorry."
I slowly withdrew my hand from the slime that was pushing my finger away, offered a brief apology, and stood up.
Then—
"...?"
There were people looking at me with warm eyes, as if watching a neighborhood thug save a cat from being hit by a car. 'What the hell are these people?'
Adventurers who avoided my gaze with coughs or strange expressions when our eyes met. Feeling an inexplicable discomfort, I headed toward the contractor, who was staggering because of Kkachi vigorously rubbing its body against her cheek.
"Crow oppa. I'll specially allow you to raise about one slime."
"Hm?"
It was several days later that I learned a crazy rumor had spread—that the mad demon was fond of slimes.