His pupils blew wide and his breath came short. Cold sweat soaked his back through.
No. No, it isn’t that.
He denied the worst possibility over and over and ran like a madman. How long had he been running? A dry rustle under his feet made him glance down.
The ground was buried in leaves. But their shape was strange. Every one of them had been cut clean in half, as if a side had been torn away, and they ran on in one steady direction.
Dojin knew at once.
Erosion.
It was a road the slime had made. He followed the trail of leaves at speed.
But the further he went, the more oddly familiar the terrain became.
This place. There’s no mistaking it. This is where the dungeon entrance opened up.
...So why would he be somewhere like this?
It was a long way from where they lived. Entrances and exits always formed in different places — that was the rule with dungeons — so Dojin hadn’t set foot out here in a long while either.
Even if I did drive him off, did he have to come all the way out here? On top of that, there was no water here and no light; it wasn’t the kind of space a slime would like at all. Just as the bad imaginings started eating into his head, he caught a small sound of movement.
That way.
He rushed toward it. He hadn’t gone far before he spotted something sitting all alone on the cave floor.
“...!”
It was before he could even open his mouth to call out. The slime did something strange.
Thwack, thwack!
That tiny body threw itself against the hard stone wall without a pause. Slam, and tear open. Slam, and tear open. Over and over, countless times.
As if doing it would put even a hairline crack in the stone. As if the rock would come crashing down and leave a hole behind.
The slime didn’t stop. It rammed itself into the wall again and again, violently, endlessly.
Thwaack!
For all that pitiful effort, not a single fissure ran through the wall. If anything, the thing coming apart was the slime.
Flump.
That round body, split open who knew how many times against the hard stone, finally collapsed in on itself, a cruel sight.
Kiii...
A thin cry rang out, the kind a small animal might make. The sound rode in through Dojin’s eardrums and spread through his whole body.
Ragged, limp, not a twitch in it, like something already dead. The little body crowded with scrapes, big and small.
And Dojin understood.
Who it was that had made the slime like this.
His knees hit the ground hard. He clenched his fist so tight his nails bit into his palm and drew blood.
What had been in the slime’s heart while it hurled itself at that wall. How long it had kept doing it, knowing it would hurt, knowing it would be torn up. And what he himself had done to a creature that pure.
All of it came rolling in like a wave, and he couldn’t think straight.
The one who had wounded the slime like this was no one but himself.
Dojin wanted to cut himself to ribbons. What was it he’d said? He’d bellowed at it — asking if it was taking revenge for its friend, that he couldn’t stand the sight of it, that it should get lost. And even so, the slime had gladly borne pain like this.
For one single reason: because Dojin wanted to get out.
Kii...
The slime made that thin little sound, as though it meant to push itself up for another try. Dojin went straight to it in long strides.
Perhaps it sensed someone there, because the slime startled badly and began to flee in the opposite direction. Dojin caught up to that wobbling, wretched little thing in one go and scooped it into his arms.
Kkuu...!
He felt the small life in his arms shrink away from him, and paid it no mind.
“Don’t go.”
「...!」
“I’m sorry.”
「...」
“It was my fault. What I said to you — I didn’t mean it. I think I really had lost my mind back then.”
Dojin spoke low, but desperately.
“Don’t go. And don’t do things like this... just stay beside me.”
At those words, tumbling out in no particular order, the slime only lay still in his arms. If anything, the one shaking was Dojin. That tremor passed straight through where their bodies touched and into the slime.
Ssssss...
When he looked down, the hem of his shirt where the slime touched it was melting. The slime must have noticed too, because it thrashed wildly.
Kiing!
“It’s fine.”
Dojin didn’t let go. This much was nothing. What did it matter if a bit of cloth dissolved? The one who’d been hurt because of him was the slime.
Myung!
It sounded like the slime was shouting something at him. And just like that, he forgot the situation entirely and let a little gladness slip out.
“It’s all right even if I never get out of here. So stop doing this. Never again.”
「...」
The slime stopped struggling. But it didn’t burrow into his arms, either. It simply let him hold it, still and unmoving.
Dojin knew the slime’s reaction wasn’t what it used to be, and he stood up with it held against him anyway.
It doesn’t matter. Whether he likes me or hates me. All I have to do is keep him near me and protect him.
“I’ll make you new clothes.”
「...」
The slime gave no answer. Unbothered, Dojin pulled a bandage out of his item bag. When he turned to take its measurements, he noticed the slime was fixated on one thing in particular. The gaping hole torn in Dojin’s own T-shirt.
“Ah, this? It’s fine. It’s only the shirt that melted.”
It was exactly as he said. There was nothing wrong with the skin underneath. Dojin bit into the bandage to tear it and mumbled around it.
“I don’t need clothes anyway. It’s just you and me in here.”
「...」
“And I fixed the food basket. It’s okay if it breaks, so don’t worry about it, just use it.”
Not that it matters — I’ll be doing all the foraging from now on. He kept that part to himself and went on working with his hand.
His body still wasn’t in good shape. But his mood, at least, was pretty decent.
The slime didn’t fawn and cling the way it used to, didn’t snuggle into his arms. Maybe it hated him now. Maybe it was just controlling its erosion. Whatever the reason, he didn’t let it get to him.
“All done. Come here.”
「...」
Since the slime wouldn’t move, Dojin did it himself: he draped the bandana around that round body and tied off the tail using his hand and his mouth. He felt the little body jolt and flinch, but Dojin only looked at it as if nothing had happened. A smile spread over his lips.
“Suits you, just like I thought.”
Even praised, the slime went on behaving like a broken-down robot. When Dojin reached for the apron lying beside him, the slime shrank backward.
Shake, shake.
“...Why?”
He’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t get angry, but being refused like that, right to his face, left an oddly sour taste in him. He didn’t let it show, though. The slime stayed silent, even at the question.
Dojin looked at it with no glint in his eyes, then carefully stood up. He went to the slime’s treasure vault and laid the apron down in one corner, neatly folded.
“This is where you keep your clothes, isn’t it? Right?”
「...」
“Put it on when you feel like it. I’m not forcing you.”
That said, he picked up the food basket. The slime saw it and began hovering about, unable to settle. Dojin’s mouth tilted up.
“I’ll go today. You rest here. Don’t do anything.”
He made his voice deliberately gentle, held the gaze of the slime looking up at him, and then stepped outside.
A round little body watched that back go, blank and unblinking. And at last, once the tall figure had vanished from sight entirely, the slime let out the breath he’d been holding.
Whew.
With every breath, dull aches came pushing in from everywhere at once. Guess I threw myself at it a little too hard. The slime folded his body in half for a while to catch his breath, then stared at the nest entrance where Dojin had disappeared.
Dojin came back.
He’s exactly the way he was before, back when he was kind. Cool and thoughtful and warm. So why is it... why can’t I breathe right when he’s in front of me? It’s just like it used to be... so why is it like this?
The slime tipped his head to one side, then gave it a careful little shake.
Rustle, rustle.
He felt the bandana’s short tail brush the back of him. Wow. Dojin really did make me another one.
With that unfamiliar feeling still fluttering in him, the slime edged shyly over to the treasure vault. He gazed at the neatly folded apron, then lowered himself to it and had a sniff.
It smells like Dojin.
After that he made a slow round of the nest, following every other trace of Dojin. His combat uniform, his item bag, the blanket and the bedding, and the ground around the nail.
The smell’s weakest right here.
Dojin’s scent was faintest on the stone table where they ate and on the leaf bowls. Don’t tell me he didn’t eat properly while I was away, either?
The slime’s color clouded over, as though his feelings had been shaken right out of him. Then, all at once, he spotted the two wooden bowls he’d left at the mouth of the nest. He rushed to peer inside, and thank goodness, the contents had gone down.
I knew it. Dojin likes drinks best of all. Mm-hm.
He nodded to himself, and then went grave again.
I really wanted to get him outside.
That one thought had him trying his power on the stone wall, then just flinging his body at it like a brute, but the thing hadn’t budged an inch. It had left him badly hurt, true, but he’d done it for Dojin, so he had no regrets.
