The Clingy Sheep: Merino Ulla
I'd tamed a total of 125 Jellyfish-002s with Merino Ulla. More than enough to house in the shelter. But I didn't bring them back. They kept clinging to me calling me "Daddy," and it was getting burdensome. So instead, like the Dog Spider pack scouting Passage 2, I left the Jellyfish pack in their original habitat and assigned them to explore Passage 3.
And now, back at base...
"Take responsibility for me, yang!"
I was dealing with some crazy sheep beastkin girl.
"No. What the hell do you even mean by 'responsibility'?"
"You raped me, yang! So take responsibility, yang!"
"I didn't do anything to you while you were asleep, I told you."
"Liar! You're a man with no sense of responsibility, yang!"
"...This psycho bitch is impossible to reason with."
"Hooeeeng."
The sheep beastkin with what seemed like serious mental issues was named Merino Ulla. A drifter swept into the labyrinth from another world.
As I kept insisting I hadn't laid a finger on her, the shadow of suspicion slowly lifted from Merino Ulla's face. With a ditzy "hooeeeng," she asked,
"You really didn't do anything to me, yang?"
"I don't do weird stuff to defenseless people."
"...So I misunderstood you, yang?"
"Yeah. How many times do I have to say it?"
Merino stared at me blankly. She awkwardly stroked her horns with both hands, then suddenly dropped to her knees and started banging her head on the ground.
"Sorry, yang! You saved me and I suspected you—I'm really sorry, yang!"
At least she knew how to admit her mistake. I sighed, accepted her apology, and pulled her up from relentlessly headbutting the floor.
"By the way, Merino."
"Yang?"
"There are a lot of others here besides me."
"Yeah, yang?"
"You didn't suspect them, so why single me out as the rapist? It pisses me off a bit—mind telling me why?"
It rubbed me the wrong way, but I was curious too. Did I look like a criminal? Sure, I was bulky, but my face wasn't that menacing. Hell, even in the army, people sometimes said I had a pretty face just looking at me.
As I frowned slightly at her, Merino fiddled with her horns again and answered,
"If it had to happen, I wanted it to be you, yang. The others weren't my type, yang. I couldn't even imagine it with them, yang."
"......"
She really was just crazy. An absurd answer, but at least she didn't suspect me because I looked like a criminal. Small mercies.
"Anyway, where is this place, yang?"
"You sure got around to asking quick."
Anyway. With the misunderstanding cleared, normal conversation seemed possible now.
Merino Ulla. A human with sheep features—a sheep beastkin. Her homeworld was a place called Ovisland, where she'd been happily grazing when she suddenly came to her senses here. In other words, she hadn't even realized she'd been caught in a dark portal.
"Merino. No one was around when you were grazing, right?"
I casually switched to informal speech. She didn't mind and replied,
"Right, yang. I was grazing alone, yang."
No one came with her, then. After that, I explained everything to her. Dark portals. The world called the Ancient Labyrinth. Explorers and drifters. And so on. I covered all the key points so she could understand and accept the situation.
Merino nodded along without a single question, listening intently.
"...Mm-hmm. I see, yang."
"Got it?"
"...Got it, yang."
I agreed. But no way was I explaining again. Too annoying.
"So what's that you're drawing, yang?"
Merino's gaze shifted to the notebook in my hand. I was doodling her out of boredom.
"You."
"Hooeeeng! A confession, yang?"
"Just a hobby. Stop jumping to weird conclusions."
"Not a confession, yang? Disappointing, yang..."
I kept sketching. Then a question popped up, and I side-eyed her.
"Oh yeah, forgot to ask—any changes in your body since we met?"
"Changes, yang? What kind?"
"Weaker or something."
"Weaker, yang? Hmm..."
Merino patted herself down. Stroked her horns, tapped her face, groped her chest.
"Doesn't seem like anything changed, yang? I feel full of energy, not weaker at all, yang."
"Sure?"
"Sure, yang!"
I paused my pen. Looked her straight in the eye.
"Staring like that makes me shy, yang. You'll get me pregnant, yang."
Merino's current threat level: pure F-grade. I figured it was nerfed. I'd confirmed with Rise that drifters' powers weaken too.
But a question arose. Did E and F-grades get two stages of nerfing? Below normal human would make normal activity impossible—why go that far?
Of course, below F-grade existed. Like Poison Apple's summons. Couldn't rank them by my standards, though. No G-grade or whatever—just below F.
Anyway. The doubt cleared somewhat.
"...Looks like an explorer's power only nerfs down to F-grade. Any lower and they'd be a living corpse."
In other words, D, E, or F—nerfed by explorer, all become F-grade.
And Merino Ulla here was pure F-grade. No power fluctuations, by her own words.
"That summon wasn't nerfed. The summoner Poison Apple just lacked the skill to call a proper one."
"Not all beastkin are strong."
As I chatted with the allies, Merino poked her head in front of me.
"What're you talking about, yang?"
(I'd already explained the allies to her.)
"None of your business."
"Huueeeng..."
I picked up my pen again. And tweaked the notes under her entry in the bestiary.
■ Merino Ulla
— Threat Level: Pure F-grade (Probably loses to Ppururu too)
— Notes: Drifter
"Merino."
"Yang?"
"You got any abilities...? Nah, probably not."
"Yang? I have abilities, yang! Don't ignore me, yang!"
"You do? What?"
"I can eat anything, yang!"
I gave her a cold stare.
"......"
"D-don't be disappointed, yang! That's not all, yang! I can cook anything so others can eat it too, yang! Stuff humans can't eat, poisonous stuff, even fire or smoke! All of it, yang!"
"Don't lie."
"It's true, yang!!!"
Offended at being dismissed, maybe? Merino looked around, picked up a nearby pebble.
"Watch closely, yang! I'm gonna cook this now, yang!"
I decided to watch for now.