Chapter 40. Slime
Hello!
I am a good slime who lives in the sewer!
For some unknown reason, I somehow gained the power of purification, and I use that power to clean the sewer every day!
Of course, cleaning the sewer isn’t always easy.
I work every single day with a body that never gets tired, but far more polluted water flows in than the amount of water I can purify.
Lately, I’ve started wondering what I’m even doing.
The humans above probably don’t even know what I’m doing, and if they ever see me, they’ll probably try to hunt me.
Am I really doing the right thing as a slime?
But!
If I can purify even a tiny amount of water, and because of that, even one person suffers a little less harm, then surely this work has meaning and value!
Of course, I have absolutely no way of knowing whether that is actually happening!
Ah!
But there is one way I can tell!
The bugs!
At first, I thought the bugs were disgusting and horrible to look at, but now they’re my main food.
I can’t live without them anymore!
When I first started purifying the water, the bugs were tiny.
I could melt and eat a hundred of them without feeling anything.
I was thinking, I’m going to starve to death~, while continuing my usual work.
Then one day, a cockroach that was slightly bigger than usual appeared.
Huh?
Why did it get so big?
I had so many questions, but fortunately, I found the answer soon enough.
I had scooped up some water separately to check whether I could really purify the sewer water.
Then the cockroaches and rats started drinking it.
And they became huge!
I was seriously shocked!
After that, I stopped setting aside water separately and simply continued my purification work.
But the cockroaches and rats kept getting bigger every day!
In other words!
My purification work must be going smoothly!
Clean, refreshing water that makes the body healthier!
That is the result of my purification work!
Surely, there is no doubt that my work is benefiting everyone!
…There are a few problems, though!
No, there are definitely problems.
But if I don’t think about it this way, I won’t be able to keep going.
Ahem!
Anyway!
Recently, or rather, during the last two or three days, I’ve started feeling confused.
Normally, there were countless giant rats and cockroaches around here.
But now, I can’t find even one!
And it’s not just those two species.
Even the other kinds of insects that had been growing larger and larger have disappeared completely, as if a storm had swept through the sewer.
I assume adventurers came through here and wiped them out.
But for ordinary adventurers, their work was strangely thorough.
There were occasional traces of burning.
Sometimes, painful screams loud enough to shake the entire sewer echoed through the tunnels.
There were also sounds like someone repeatedly slapping something.
They were fairly quiet, so they must have been hunting somewhere far away.
They probably wouldn’t come all the way here.
Still, it’s a little scary.
Normally, the adventurers who came here were weak adventurers who struggled against the insects.
I was confident that I could secretly watch them without being noticed.
But judging by how these people were shouting loudly and attracting all the insects before fighting them…
They must be strong!
And on top of that, they must be completely insane!
I don’t have any memories or experience with humans, but there is one thing I know for certain.
Never go near a crazy person!
So, let’s just continue making the polluted water in this sewer clean, just like always!
“…This… transparent…”
Oh!
It sounds like they’ve gotten closer.
I can hear their voices a little now.
Let’s run away before they catch me and make me suffer!
If they were young and innocent adventurers, perhaps I could convince them with words.
But that person definitely belongs to the type who cannot be reasoned with!
“…found…!”
“Found…?”
“Did he say found?
Found what?”
While I was running away, that word happened to reach my ears.
Without thinking, I became curious.
I couldn’t help it!
There is so little to see in this place!
There is nothing here except the things that are already here!
“I found it!!!
Kihihihihihi!”
That crazed shout, filled with insane laughter, echoed throughout the sewer.
It was more than enough to stop my curiosity!
So I have to run!
Run!
Run!
BOOM!
CRASH! CRASH!
W-What is that sound?!
Is the sewer breaking apart?!
I’ve never heard such a huge noise before!
I’m going to die!
If they catch me, I’ll die without even being able to make a sound!
Then I’ll melt into that filthy sewer water and become nutrients for the world!
I ran away with everything I had.
For a moment, I even thought about hiding in the water.
But that adventurer probably saw the purified water, figured out my existence, and started chasing me!
So if I hide in the water and stop there, that adventurer might eventually search all around the purified water and find me!
I’ve never felt such intense fear since I opened my eyes!
I never imagined there could be a human who gave off such a terrifying aura!
BOOM!
CRACK!
“Kihihihi!
Where are you?!
Where are youuuuu?!”
T-The adventurer!
The adventurer is running along the walls of the sewer!
He’s destroying the sewer as he runs!
Wait…
Is he really an adventurer?
Is that thing even human?
I can vaguely see something like misty fur flying around him.
Could he be a monster?
A werewolf?!
Whoosh!
BOOM!
Eek!
The adventurer swung something!
Something is stuck in the ground!
And it’s right near where I am!
“Something…
I feel like I heard someone call me a wolf.
Why do I suddenly feel extremely disgusted?”
“I feel the same way right now!
Please! Are you planning to destroy the entire sewer?!”
I-I was startled!
Suddenly, the adventurer’s eyes turned directly toward where I was!
Humans shouldn’t be able to clearly distinguish things in the darkness like I can.
So how?!
Another adventurer who came running after him tried to stop the monster-like adventurer and seemed to be scolding him.
But that monster adventurer didn’t even pretend to listen!
“You’re ignoring me again!
Do you want to go to prison?!”
“No!
Not at all!”
“Then!
Please!
Calm down!
And behave yourself!!”
SMACK!
Oh!
They look like they have a big age difference.
Are they perhaps siblings?
But even if they are, they’re far too different from each other.
Well, human faces all look more or less the same to me, but these two definitely look different.
No…
Rather than that, I don’t think that monster adventurer is even human!
It feels like he’s hiding something inside himself.
Something that feels like a monster!
“Haa! Haa! Haa!
Hoo…!”
“The purification ends here.
And it happened very recently.”
“Yeah.
I confirmed it too.
See?
I told you buying expensive but powerful lanterns was the right choice!”
“You even took out a loan!
Without consulting me!
And you bought three of them!”
“Ah~ About that.
Lately, I think my sense of money has stopped working.
So I bought them without realizing it!
Haha!
I’m sure it’ll work out somehow!”
“Y-You!
Y-YOU!!”
SMACK! SMACK!
What a tyrannical dictator!
That’s definitely the kind of person I don’t want to get involved with!
He seems like the type who happily laughs by himself while everyone else cries and panics around him!
“Don’t worry!
Do you really think I did all this for no reason?”
“You did it for no reason.”
“No, I didn’t!
Right, Village Chief?”
“Phew…
Yes.
This time, it does seem that you had some sort of plan.
Although I have no idea what it was.”
At the old man’s words, the monster adventurer gave a confident expression as if saying,
See! I told you so!
For some reason, the adventurer who had been about to scold him also seemed convinced.
What role does that old man play in this party to be trusted so much?
Ah!
This isn’t the time for me to think about that!
I need to escape!
“Wait a moment.
I learned a new skill recently.”
“Oh?
May I ask about it?”
“No.
More importantly, explain why you suddenly did this today.”
“The skill drives a chain into the ground and detects vibrations from the ground.
Its range isn’t very large, but it lets me check whether anything is moving nearby.
Because!
Yesterday, I couldn’t sleep, so I secretly came here alone.
And I discovered a clear and transparent liquid around here that gives energy to the body!
Finally!”
Ah!
I’ve been discovered!
