Side Chapter — Wataru the Hero and Rin

“What in the wold?! A monster that dangerous has taken over the dungeon? Leave it to me!” I told Wataru about Rin... that is, I told him about the deadly monster in our dungeon. After discussing Rin with Haku a few days ago, she said, “Very well, I’ll lend Wataru to you. I’m sure he’ll take care of it somehow,” and after returning home actually did send Wataru over. Truth be told, both Rin and Wataru were strong enough that either one of them could beat the other in a fight, and personally, either of their deaths would benefit me quite nicely. Especially since Haku would apparently pay off Wataru’s debt if he died before paying it all back.

In any case, Wataru the Hero accepted the quest right away. Alright. Time to see if Rin can beat a Hero. Either way, this is gonna be a pretty fun show.

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Wataru advanced briskly through the dungeon and soon reached Rin’s room.

“...Alright then.” He opened the door and immediately saw the black wolf inside, ready for battle.

“Graaaah!”

“Oh man, he looks strong... Stronger than a Dragon, maybe?”

Rin attacked first. They opened their mouth wide and tried to bite Wataru... But he swung his fist sideways, smashing it against Rin’s nose and sending them flying to the left. Rin slammed into the wall at an immense speed, and with a loud squish, turned into a black stain against the stone.

“...One hit kill? No, wait. That nose definitely felt like something familiar. Don’t tell me this is a...” Wataru’s prediction was correct. Rin hadn’t died yet. The stain on the wall collected itself and returned to the shape of a wolf.

“Oh man. I knew it, he’s that kind of monster. Must be a slime.”

“Graah...! I won’t, let you, pass!”

“Oh, you can talk... This is just getting worse and worse. I really don’t wanna fight you.” Wataru drew his sword as he spoke. His opponent was already baring their teeth. If he didn’t prepare to fight, he’d be dead in no time. The look on his face made it obvious he was regretting accepting this quest so lightly.

“Graaaah! O Fire, burn and swell, explode — {Fire Bomb}!”

“Woaaah! Hold on, I didn’t hear anything about you using magic!” Wataru sliced Rin’s launched explosive fireball down the middle. The two resulting halves passed by Wataru and exploded behind him.

“Mmm. You’re, pretty good.”

“Man, that surprised me. Okay. Alright. Let’s talk! We don’t have to fight!”

“Mmm? I’m, listening.”

“Wait, seriously? I mean, um... Cool. That’s great.” Wataru couldn’t hide his surprise that his shot in the dark had been taken seriously. Naturally, he didn’t want to kill a being intelligent enough to be communicated with, monster or not. Unless it was some kind of sadistic murderer or something. Although Rin had killed some adventurers in the dungeon, Wataru could forgive that. As adventurers always entered dungeons prepared to die at any time, their deaths in many ways were just the natural order of things, and he hadn’t heard of anyone outside of the dungeon being harmed. Thus, Wataru decided that it would be worth trying to negotiate with them.

“Now. To start, with, I’ll eat you. Be still.”

“Wait, what?! Why?! Why are we starting with you eating me?!”

“We can talk, about that, later. Let me, eat you, first.”

“How are you gonna talk to someone inside your stomach?! That’ll kill me!”

“No? I talked, with two people, in this dungeon, after, eating them.” Wataru was genuinely surprised that there had actually been two people they ate and then talked with. Though Rin just wasn’t being clear and failed to note that one of those people was actually a Golem.

“With that, settled. I’m eating you.”

“Gaaah! Time out, time out! Look, here, I’ll share my lunch with you. I hope you can settle for this sandwich.”

“Sand, wich? What’s that?”

“...Heheh. Y’see, the inn by the front of this dungeon sells food, and I asked them to wrap up a meal for me so I could have it for lunch! This is a sandwich made with super tasty white bread, and it’s made even better by the mayo!”

“Alright, I’ll eat it, so, hand it over.” Rin gestured Wataru forward with their paw, likely enticed by the flavor.

“{Storage}, and done. Here. I’ll put it on the plate and leave it here, okay?”

“Mmm.” Wataru put his sandwich on a white place and set it down in the middle of the room. After he stepped back decently far, Rin approached the sandwich and sniffed it... before eating both it and the plate whole.

“Hey! I really liked that white plate... W-Well, whatever, I have four more. But these plates only come from this dungeon...”

“I’m, impressed. These, sandwiches, taste good. They’re smooth, but crunchy.”

“...Are you talking about the celery? Uhhh, I have some more, do you want seconds?”

“Give.” This time, Wataru put the sandwich on a wood plate he wouldn’t miss and then put it on the floor like before.

“Hey. That looks, different! Graaah!”

“...Seriously?! You liked the plate?! The plate tasted good to you?! Friggin’, fine! Here.” Wataru placed just the white plate onto the ground. Since he has gotten a set of five of them from a chest, he only had three left.

“Mnn? Nothing, on top, this time?”

“You really wanna steal everything I have?! Sure, fine. Here’s your sandwich. And this is the plate.” Wataru put a sandwich on the plate, and then Rin, as expected, ate both it and the plate.

“Mmm. Nom, nom. Chomp... mmm. Sandwiches, taste good. But, really, the top part, doesn’t, add much.”

“Dammit, give me back my lunch! And I’m telling you, the bottom part is just the plate! The top part is the sandwich!”

“Heheh. Seems like, you have, good taste. Alright. We can, talk. Give me, one more.”

“Gee, thanks! Gaaaaaah!”

By the way, Wataru’s unique Hero skill {Ultra Good Fortune: Level 1} was likely working in the background. Who knows how it happened, but eventually they started drinking together and had a grand old time. He ended up sleeping down there, but thanks to the room’s heating, he didn’t catch a cold.

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“So, basically, we ended up bonding a lot.”

“Uh, Hero? You really came back without defeating the monster?” The Hero came trekking back out of the dungeon. Rin was still safely guarding their room in the dungeon. Sheesh, you stink of beer. Be decent and use {Purification} already. And weren’t you gonna stop drinking until you paid back your debt? Just kidding, I know you’ve broken that rule a thousand times.

“Nah nah nah, I mean, I definitely didn’t just come back empty-handed! I made a good promise with him!”

“A promise?”

“Even if he finds an adventurer, he promised not to kill them if they offered up a white plate without resisting!” Wataru the Hero beamed a smug grin, proud of his accomplishment. I want to punch him.

But that’s not a bad promise. Rin doesn’t break promises, as far as I know. Things should be fine unless they accidentally forget what happened today. And... I think I’ll raise the prices of white plates a little. I can think up a more specific figure later.

“Ah, also, he’ll only beat adventurers half to death if they give him a non-white plate!”

“Errr... Can we really trust that?”

“I think we can.”

“Your evidence?”

“Uh... My gut? I mean, I don’t think he’s actually a bad monster.” He was basically right, but still, it ticked me off somehow. But as town chief, and as a fellow adventurer, I couldn’t really go too hard on him.

“...So, what should we do when we want to go deeper into the dungeon?”

“...Oh!”

“You really didn’t think of that?! Idiot!”

“Er, I mean, hold on! He said he’d leave once spring comes! We just have to wait until then!” You got that much information out of Rin? What a guy.

“Oh, also, Rin’s not actually a wolf-type monster. They’re a Hero’s pet Slime, named Slirin.” Wait, seriously? That’s the first time I’m hearing the name Slirin.

Basically, one thing led to another and Rin avoided being exterminated by a Hero. I wouldn’t be paying him the reward for finishing the quest, but as town chief, I gave him five white plates to repay him for the valuable information. He was pretty happy since all his own plates got eaten by Rin, so yeah, it was a pretty good reward if I do say so myself.