The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon-Chapter 53. Between Appraisal and Emotion (4)

What is she about to say?

I didn't have any clear guesses, so I waited for her to continue.

Rena said, "Actually, my younger sibling is at the place we're going to now."

That surprised me.

"You've entrusted them to this guild member?"

"Yes, at the orphanage... It's hard for me to say this, but my sibling's an incredibly cute kid."

She entrusted her sibling to this guild member? Who could this person be?

It was surprising that someone like Rena, a symbol of distrust in humans, trusted anyone to look after her sibling. From the tone of her voice, she seemed to care deeply about them.

"Are they trustworthy?"

Rena replied without hesitation. "Yes."

I was curious about what kind of person she trusted so completely.

"Hmm..."

Well, I'll meet them soon enough.

As we walked, Rena occasionally spoke about her sibling. On the surface, she sounded indifferent, as if it were no big deal. But I could almost see a little girl hidden somewhere inside, holding her younger sibling tightly and crying.

The two of them must have been left alone, abandoned on the very streets where Rubia had been assaulted and killed. Of course, I didn't need to know the details of Rena's past or her circumstances. We weren't that close.

It's enough to make use of her as necessary...

Trying to redirect my thoughts, I remembered something I'd been neglecting.

Status window.

It was time to distribute my points.

First, I allocated my experience points. Though I had gained less than before, I had monopolized the kills of the guards and the dungeon boss.

My level increased from 11 to 12. I distributed the points evenly between Health, Strength, and Agility.

[Health: 46

Strength: 48

Agility: 48

Wisdom: 15]

Hmm.

Three of my stats were nearing 50.

For a human, that would be an exceptional level, enough to gain recognition and live with honor. With decent natural talent and disciplined training, combined with years of surviving death-defying battles, I could rival a seasoned mercenary.

Among regular soldiers, I'd probably be a feared presence. Even as a bandit, I'd be the second-in-command of a large group at the very least.

However, I was a skeleton. I didn't exist within the mainstream system. The world belonged to humans, dictated by their perceptions and rules. In their world, they defined me as a monster to be slain.

Thus, my enemy was the world itself. I could never let myself stand out with conspicuous strength.

I need to keep exploring dungeons.

There was still time for me to train. Before I knew it, the rain had stopped. The gray walls of Yublam came into view, tinted slightly by the autumn light.

We didn't enter the city. Rena's destination was on its outskirts. She pulled her robe over her armor to cover it, and we headed toward a village with a large lumber mill. Children were playing in front of a two-story orphanage building.

"Wow! It's pretty Rena!"

"She's my sister!"

"How have you been?"

The children giggled and surrounded Rena. She picked up one of them, and kissed her on the cheek. The little girl, no older than ten, blushed and laughed happily.

She was an ordinary, pretty girl one might find anywhere. Her smile was pure, unclouded by shadows. That smile seemed to dissolve the darkness within me, dispersing it like mist.

"Is she... your sibling?" I asked.

"Don't we look alike?"

Rena smiled brightly. It was a different kind of smile, as if a layer had been peeled away.

Hmm.

The girl did resemble Rena—her features were strikingly similar. However, her aura was entirely different. It felt like they had lived in completely different worlds.

The nineteen-year-old woman before me had lived in a world that stabbed knives into her eyes and poured poison into her ears. It couldn't have been easy to protect the little girl's ordinary smile. She had likely struggled in a world without parents or anything else to support her.

"Is the director here?"

One of the children pointed toward a patch of grass. "The director went back there."

"With whom?"

"Um... sis, some strange people came. The director said they had 'grown-up' things to talk about."

"What kind of people?"

"Scary-looking ones. I like the director, so I was watching him. The other kids only like playing..."

Rena frowned slightly. "When did this happen?"

"Uh, just a little while ago."

Rena hugged her sibling a few more times, gently patting her head. "Sis is going to go in with the director. Can you wait with your friends for a bit?"

"Okay! I'm a good girl, so I'll wait!"

The little girl nodded brightly and went back into the building with the other children.

Rena said, "It seems like there's a problem."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Well, I'm not sure who it's dangerous for."

We walked toward the grassy area.

"Is that it?"

A man stood there, shackled by chains around his neck and hands. The chain around his neck was very short, restricting his movement. Five people surrounded him, swords drawn.

They're here to "talk"?

That didn't look like a situation that would end in conversation.

The shackled man's voice spoke, his words accompanied by the sound of clinking chains. "Thank you for coming as requested. I didn't want the children to witness anything unpleasant."

The five surrounding him sneered. Among them, a fat woman with a dark face laughed mockingly at the man.

"You idiot, do you know what you're wearing?"

"I assume it's handcuffs?"

"They're made of lava stone. You won't escape unless your neck is completely severed. Thankful, are you? Ha! Yes, you should be."

The curly-haired woman cackled as she mocked him. The others joined in her laughter.

At that moment, the man remarked, "Aren't the children lovely?"

"What?"

"They change little by little. It's truly endearing."

Sunlight filtered through the trees, illuminating the man's face.

What is he talking about?

The man's eyes came into view. One was red, the other green. His face appeared sickly and unnaturally textured, like it had gemstones embedded in it.

I quietly asked Rena, "Is that the guild member? Shouldn't we help him?"

Rena nodded slightly, seemingly unbothered. She wasn't planning to intervene.

The fat woman casually swung a dagger near the man's face, threatening to stab his eyes. "You dare fill the kids with nonsense? I looked into you, and you have no backing. You think you can kidnap our kids and live? Huh?"

"Ma'am, we're going to kill him anyway, right?"

"Sure, but I like to have some fun first. There's nothing better than watching these scum cry and beg, ‘I was wrong! Please spare me!' Isn't that right?"

Then the man said, "I heard you made the children work as prostitutes."

The woman froze and turned her head. "So what?"

The man continued with a calm expression, "A boy who recently came to our orphanage drank until he vomited, trying to escape the memory. What do you think about that?"

"What do I think, you bastard? Whether he drinks liquor or... whatever else, he's still our kid! Huh? What, you think you can take all the kids and run a business by yourself?"

The fat woman pressed her dagger harder against the man's eye, digging the blade deeper. Something began to flow from around the man's eye.

"Shall we start with the eyes?"

Sssrrrrkk...

What is that?

From where the dagger cut, something flowed out. It was not blood, but a sticky green fluid.

"Eek! What is this?!"

"Ma'am! Are you okay?!"

The living green slime flowed along the cold blade.

"No need for further discussion, it seems..."

Hiiissss...

Gray smoke rose as the slime touched the steel blade.

The man's voice oozed out thickly. "Since we have guests, let's wrap this up quickly..."

Plop!

In an instant, the man's entire body turned gelatinous and sank to the ground.

"W-what?!"

The writhing green slime spread quickly, entangling the five people.

Hiiissss...

The dense green slime engulfed their legs, slowly dissolving them from the ankles up.

"Aaahhh!"

"Eek! Monster! Monster!"

"God help us!"

Their frantic screams filled the air as they tried to escape, but the spreading slime wouldn't let go. Soon after, their legs were dissolved, and they collapsed into the slime with wet splashes, dying one by one.

I stood beside Rena, staring blankly at the scene. The slime, which had spread across the ground and consumed the humans, shifted, writhing as if to take on another form.

Slowly, it began to rise.

"..."

From the wriggling green mass, thin tentacles of slime stretched upward, resembling a skinny, grotesque octopus. As it continued to rise, it formed a head.

Its "head" turned in our direction. The head, smooth and gray like an octopus, had two eyes embedded within it, one glowing red, the other green.

Grrrk...

Within moments, the gray-green slime began to grow more defined features. A nose formed, followed by a mouth. Its lower body, which had been spreading out like a puddle, retracted and shifted into limbs. The amorphous mass transformed into a humanoid figure.

Before long, it was unmistakably the same man who had been shackled just moments ago. The man, now standing tall, bowed deeply toward me.

"I apologize for the delay in resolving this matter. My name is Lime, the director of this orphanage. I am also a member of the T&T Guild. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"..."

I turned to look at Rena, my expression clearly asking, What the hell is going on?

"Shouldn't you have told me about this sooner?" I asked.

She merely shrugged, an amused smirk playing on her lips.

"Wouldn't it be more fun to see it for yourself?"

***

Lime explained calmly, "I am a changeling, specifically of the slime race."

"A slime..." I echoed.

"Yes, though I hope you don't have any negative feelings about slimes," Lime said, bowing his head slightly.

Clink.

I shook my head. It wasn't a matter of liking or disliking slimes. This was the first time I'd seen a slime with intelligence. I'd only ever heard about them in passing, as they were considered exceedingly rare.

If a Demon King's army were to rise, this man, far more powerful than a mere Skeleton Soldier like me, would likely hold a high rank. Yet, despite his power, Lime remained exceptionally polite.

"May I say we're in similar positions, navigating the human world together?" he added.

"Sure."

Lime was far better than me and had clearly managed to integrate into this world.

"Perhaps because of our similar positions, I felt an immediate sense of kinship upon meeting you. I also heard you've been a great help to Rena."

"It's nothing. It was a mutual benefit."

We moved toward the director's office. Rena casually broke a hard cookie into pieces, dipping them in her coffee to nibble slowly.

"You still have that habit, Rena," Lime remarked.

"It's your coffee. I should savor it," she replied.

"We have plenty of beans..."

"Drinking too much coffee, even if it tastes great, makes menstrual cramps worse," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Understood. Please enjoy it however you like," Lime said with a slight bow.

He turned to face me, bowing once more. "As I mentioned, I am a changeling and can alter my form at will. If it would make you more comfortable, I can adopt the appearance of another skeleton."

"That's unnecessary. I'd rather ask something else."

"Of course. Please, go ahead."

"How does a slime end up running an orphanage?"

Lime gave a faint, bitter smile. "We slimes are asexual beings and have no offspring of our own. But I love children. Watching them grow and change is endlessly fascinating to me."

"And yet, you're the one who can change into anything."

"That's just the surface. If you think about it, we slimes are beings who cannot truly change into anything. We only wear different shells."

His words carried a tinge of melancholy. Even the subtle expressions he made seemed unnerving, as I considered the mechanics behind them.

When Lime rose from the ground earlier, the bodies of the five intruders had completely dissolved, leaving no trace behind. Though he was polite, this being was capable of erasing me from existence if he so chose.

"And if your identity is discovered?" I asked.

"I take great care to ensure that doesn't happen. It's the only way I can continue running the orphanage," Lime replied, sipping his coffee calmly.

I couldn't help but wonder where the coffee went once he drank it. The question lingered in my mind as I watched him.

Lime picked up the lava-stone shackles he'd been wearing earlier and placed them in a large storage room in the back.

Lava-stone shackles for a slime? What a stupid choice.

"The ones who attacked earlier—why were they here?" I asked.