「...?」
The slime tilted itself to one side, looking thoroughly puzzled.
Dojin smiled lightly. The slime had no way of knowing that that beautiful smile was the smile of a devil.
One, two. One, two.
“One more.”
Kuuung...!
“That’s all you’ve got? You think you can protect yourself with that?”
Apparently he’d completely forgotten that he was the one who’d promised to protect it, because Dojin bullied it along without mercy.
Kkeuuuk... Halfway through hauling itself up, the slime finally lost the fight with its own weight and flopped straight back down. Chak. Fused with the floor as one, the little circle couldn’t hold its shape at all and just wobbled there in a loose puddle.
Dojin straightened up from his crouch and leveled a cold look at it.
“Shame. I was going to let you rest if you managed just one more.”
Mooong...!
The slime shot upright as if startled and grumbled furiously. But even its sounds of protest came out limp and drained, nothing like before.
Dojin picked the spread-out slime up and kneaded it back into its proper shape, squish by squish. A playful smile sat on his lips.
“I’m kidding. Let’s call it a day.”
Hooong...
Relieved, the slime settled down like a lump of dough. Utterly wrung out, it surrendered everything to Dojin’s hands and let its body droop. Dojin tucked it under his arm, carried it over to the pond, and got some water into it.
They’d been training for several days now.
The reason they’d started was simple. Dojin needed to rebuild his conditioning after the injury, and the slime needed to be able to at least run or dodge if it ever came face to face with an enemy.
Sorry to say it, but I can’t stay here forever. I can’t, and I won’t. There’s no way I can stick by its side for the rest of my life.
The moment I get a chance, I have to open the exit and leave, and when that happens the slime is on its own. Promising to protect it only holds while I’m inside this dungeon. After that, the only one left to do the protecting is the slime itself.
It has to survive, no matter what. For a long, long time. Different species or not, it’s precious to me.
“Is it that hard?”
...Kking.
The slime let out a sound like a dying squeak and collapsed flat on the floor. Dojin gathered it up and soothed it with little pats.
“Hard or not, you need it. ...When I’m not around, you’re the only one who can protect you.”
「...?」
The slime froze and stared up at him. The whole shape of it seemed to be asking, What are you talking about?
Dojin scratched his cheek, his face awkward.
“Someday I’m going to leave this place. And when I do, you’ll have to protect yourself. You need to be able to run away, or at least put up some kind of fight.”
The slime said nothing. It only sat there, rigid, gazing steadily up at him. Dojin stroked its head slowly.
“I don’t want to be apart from you either. But we live in different worlds. One day I’m going back to where I come from.”
I want to. At the quiet addition, the slime’s body went even stiffer. As though it had just heard something it had never expected.
It’s probably a shock. But if I don’t say it in advance, the parting will only be harder later. ...Not that I could take it with me.
When he looked down at it with concern, the slime, which had been sitting perfectly still, came padding over with soft little jjop jjop steps and pressed into his chest. Dojin patted the round shape and apologized softly.
“Sorry.”
「...」
The slime shook its body from side to side and burrowed in deeper.
Dojin let out a low sigh and wrapped his arm around the round little body. He felt genuinely sorry that he had to say something like this to a young life that followed him so devotedly. And seeing it so disappointed hurt a little, too.
He went on patting it, then murmured, “Want to wash up and get some sleep?” But the slime only curled in tighter. Before he knew it, another day was ending.
「...」
On the thickly piled leaves, a small circle stirred without a sound. The round blue thing gave off a dim shimmer in the pre-dawn light. The slime rolled himself over and looked at Dojin, fast asleep beside him.
That handsome face had its eyes shut. Dojin looks amazing whether his eyes are open or closed. Nothing I’ve ever seen before looks like this. Though, well, those hunters who came here with Dojin were as bad as monsters.
After watching him like that for a long while, the slime went itcha and heaved himself upright.
Then, truly stifling every trace of his presence, he crept out of the nest. He flattened against the ground like an earthworm and inched along bit by bit. Only once he was well away from the nest could he breathe out properly.
Whew. Dojin’s so sensitive to anything moving, I have to be careful. Are all hunters like that? So fussy.
He tipped his head to one side, then hurried off toward his destination.
He traveled a long way through the dark of the cave, nosing his way through one fork after another, heading deeper inside. Along the way he ran into a few small monsters like himself, said hello, and even had a chat.
「Hi. You’re new here.」
At those words, a gray clump no bigger than a speck of dust rolled around and around the slime in delight.
「I’ve been here forever. Anything you don’t know, just ask me.」
「...」
「Yeah. I’m really glad to meet you too.」
It used to be just me here. And now there’s another new one.
Lately, things smaller than himself kept turning up. There weren’t any for such a long time. What’s going on? Still, this was a place where new things appeared and vanished over and over, so it wasn’t especially strange.
Bbyok, bbyok.
After his little chat with the dust mote, he walked hard for a while longer and at last reached the spot he wanted.
At a glance it was just another empty hollow, but the slime knew that a new door had once appeared here.
Standing before the wall, the slime stared up at the heap of stone sealing it shut.
This place used to be wide open.
That had probably been one of the entrances, or exits, that Dojin kept talking about. Back when the slime had hidden in a crack between the rocks to watch, he’d caught a glimpse of the bright outside world through the opening. Now, though, it was blocked off by solid stone, as if it had never opened at all.
Hoooo.
The slime let out a sigh, though even he couldn’t tell whether it was relief or regret. Going by what Dojin had said today, an exit needed to appear, and fast. Dojin was from the outside, so of course he’d want to go back out there. But still...
“What’s the problem? I’ll protect you.”
...I don’t want to say goodbye.
He’d lived alone for a long, long time. He’d wandered this cave for ages, squeezing past death more than once along the way. Hiding from the eyes of the scary things, playing alone, eating alone, sleeping alone. Every single thing, start to finish, he’d done by himself.
Then Dojin came, and everything changed.
Now he did everything with Dojin. These were feelings and experiences he’d never once known before. He used to have no idea what loneliness even was, but now he knew. Before knowing a feeling and after knowing it are two completely different things. Without Dojin he’d probably be very lonely, and it would be very hard.
But the slime shook his whole body hard.
No. I can’t think like this. Dojin is from the outside, so he has to go back outside. And I have to help him get out there.
The slime looked at the wall again. Not a sliver of a gap anywhere, sealed up tight.
So there’s no way out yet.
And the instant he realized it, making a mockery of everything he’d just told himself, one thought slipped out before he could catch it. Thank goodness.
What is wrong with me, seriously? I’m not supposed to think things like that.
Do I really hate the idea of being apart from Dojin that much?
The second he asked himself, the answer came out: Mm-hm... The slime plopped down in front of the wall. And then he thought about it so hard that his plump flesh creased into folds.
Dojin has to go outside someday, and I don’t want to be apart from Dojin. So that means the way to do it is...
Mid-deliberation, the slime’s body lit up with a sparkle. He’d had a great idea!
I can just go with Dojin! Out into the outside world!
Sure, Dojin had said hunters were dangerous, but what was there to worry about? Dojin had said he’d protect him. On top of that, he’d hidden himself from dangerous things plenty of times, and he had a track record of getting away, too. And right now he was even training to defend himself.
So I just have to train even harder from now on, right?
Yeah, it’s a great idea!
The slime honestly wanted to shower himself with praise for coming up with something like this. Just like Dojin said, he was so, so smart. Maybe he was a genius.
To think I got all gloomy over something this simple.
There was something he’d thought about once. That he’d like to become a human with a big, thick stick dangling between his legs just like Dojin, and talk to him. He had no clue how... but eh, wouldn’t it work itself out somehow later?
Nothing like the droopy little thing he’d been on the way out, the slime headed back to the nest with brisk, plucky bbyok-bbyoks. Once he was almost there, he dialed his presence all the way down and crept the rest of the way.
Pleased with himself for solving such a simple problem, he burrowed into the leaf blanket Dojin had made for him. Then he rolled over to face Dojin’s side, watched him for a while, and soon fell asleep. It had been a very productive day.
