The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon-Chapter 306: Unearth (26)

What had caught the moonlight was a familiar, bare scalp with not a single hair left on it.

The captain?

A man I had killed in the last life, and again right after clawing out of my grave in this one, was sprinting through the city at a ridiculous speed.

Swoosh!

He turned onto a deserted street, no longer bothering to hide. A fierce wind howled in his wake. Kirk's men had said the lord of Yublam and the guard captain were acting strangely. Asphode, the bald captain, could never move that fast.

Spellbound by that speed, I followed. It could have been a trap, but I absolutely had to know how he was still alive or what was happening.

Swoosh!

Without a backward glance, Asphode dashed straight toward the inner keep. Two guards at the gate saluted him and opened the doors at once.

Were the lord and the guard captain ever this close?

I recalled the day Leandro arrived, pounding on the gate with his fist, when Yublam's factions split and fought atop the walls.

The guard captain enslaved travelers and sold them! He's a Necron lackey! He took the seal! Let me punish him!

It was the damned lord's orders! You grew opium in the keep! My lord marquis! He's the one who got Yublam hooked!

The memory faded. They had never trusted each other. Now, the corridor that used to be firmly held by the lord's factional guards was almost devoid of people. I recognized some of the guards outside as the ones who ought to be posted there.

I followed the bald captain closely, ready to draw my blade at any moment.

Detection.

I sensed nothing suspicious. In fact, near the lord's office, there was no sign of any living presence.

Clack.

Asphode opened the office door as if it were his own and walked in. Papers covered the central desk in tight rows of script, while another table that looked more like a display stand was stacked with oddly shaped antiques.

"These are today's appraisals..." Asphode mumbled.

He reached toward the heap of antiques. His formed hand melted like candle wax, turning into green slime. A thin gelatinous film enveloped the treasures, and as he exerted force, one eye flashed red while the other flashed green.

I stared straight at him in shock.

Wooo...

The bald head slowly reshaped into the lord of Yublam's face, hair sprouting first as a green outline before filling in the rest with lifelike detail. Even the bulging gut matched perfectly. He didn't even need to don new clothes; the writhing slime shifted, weaving itself into the lord's garments.

Dumbfounded, I dropped my stealth and called out, "A... slime?"

Lime turned to me, only half-transformed.

Plop!

Startled, the two eyes set in Lime's face fell and rolled across the floor.

"You!" Lime exclaimed.

Pressed within the mass, the eyes, one with a red iris and the other with a green iris, glimmered darkly through the viscous gel.

Half Asphode, half the lord, Lime flushed and looked at me. "You're finally... here! B-but... seeing me mid-transformation is embarrassing..."

Wonderful. I was seeing a weakness I had never wanted to learn. Seeing Lime embarrassed in that state was a sight. I stepped outside quickly.

Lime said to me in a syrupy voice, "I'll be done in a moment!"

"Take your time..."

Crk! Crrrk!

I told Lime to take their time, but even through the door, it sounded like they were rushing far too much.

Clatter.

I shook my skull, forcing the image out of my mind. I didn't wish to remember this.

The squelching subsided soon enough, and at Lime's word, I opened the door and stepped back in.

Lime greeted me again. "Welcome."

Down to the gold bracelet on his thick wrist, Lime had perfectly disguised the lord of Yublam. Even Lime's manner of speech had changed completely.

I briefly wondered which shell hid Lime's true self. Then I glanced between Lime and the piles of antiques.

"Weren't you in the middle of an appraisal?" I asked.

With Lime's green-tinged face now fully formed, they smiled with sticky warmth. "It doesn't matter. These were trinkets the lord had hidden. They're largely useless. Someone far more important has come."

Lime's eyes shone with emotion as they looked at me. "First, thank you. I heard of all your deeds through the network. You saved the three tribes I told you about. Truly, thank you."

"Ah... well. Sure."

Lime's heartfelt tone embarrassed me. A few hours ago, I was ready to boast of my exploits to the orphanage director just to earn their goodwill, but they already knew.

"I've thought carefully about how I can help. My first conclusion was this..."

Lime pointed at their own face. I had imagined a different method, but none fit Lime better.

"What about the originals?" I asked.

Lime gave a rueful smile. "There's too much wicked blood in me."

Lime had killed them.

"Have you met Rubia?"

Lime nodded. "We came to terms."

"And your identity...?"

"She knows. I told her on purpose to see how she'd react, and she didn't mind in the least."

Typical Rubia.

All the more so after meeting me; she wouldn't balk at dealing with a monster. I remembered Rena saying Erast, Yublam, and Grassmere essentially went hand in hand. I hadn't grasped it then that this was what she meant.

"I'm serving as guard captain as well and focusing on the city's recovery. With the people steeped in opium and resignation... it's closer to rehabilitation than development."

"That sounds difficult. Should I front you some funds?"

I had none on hand, but as a full member, the merchant guild would extend credit.

Lime burst out laughing.

Due to the changeling's power, the voice and face were wholly the lord's, yet the warmth of that smile felt entirely different.

"We're fine. I melted all the dealers who did business with Yublam, so we're flush. There are no narcotics in the south anymore."

The quiet proclamation chilled the room. That had been my reason for recruiting Lime, but I was reminded again how dangerous a slime could be. Lime had a meticulous information network, ability to shapeshift, ability to complete appraisals, infiltrate any property, and formidable raw combat strength. In such a short time period, Lime had erased narcotics from the south.

Would Isaac be sad?

"The dealers tied to Yublam were all entangled with Necron. Thanks to someone fighting in the capital, it became easy to sever those lines without fallout. We owe it all to you."

Owe it to me?

I had done little. I had merely passed information to Rena; she pulled all the strings. In human organizations, Rena thrived, almost eerily so. Perhaps true competence required ruthlessness, cunningness, and a deep-seated contempt for humanity.

In any case, as the lord of Yublam, Lime could become Rubia's steady, official ally. Just knowing a slime ruled the neighboring city eased my mind. There was a strange irony in the demon-lordling who once murdered Rubia now becoming our strongest ally. From an angle I'd never have expected, Lime had moved a step ahead of me, and I was both grateful and impressed.

"Thank you. Truly."

The lord shook his head. "I should be the one thanking you. You showed a path to a coward like me."

"You've... lived as a coward?"

"I lived as a silent observer. I stood by, decided this world had no answer, and never tried to change it. In the end I gave up and told myself the Demon King's advent was the solution."

That was accurate. In the past, when I hadn't intervened, Lime left the orphanage and joined the Demon King's supporters. I remembered the night Rena and I were surrounded by the Purson cultists, and how he seeped into every gap in my skull and dissolved me in an instant. Rena died there too, melting at my side, with the necklace I'd been given by Lime uselessly clutched in her hand.

"Wiping it all clean and starting over with bloodshed is the easiest, neatest way. But this time, I chose a different path, just as you said..."

What did I say?

The lord looked at me, eyes bright with expectation. I dredged up the memory. It was a third path that wasn't about the Demon King or humanity.

"Ah, look at this." Lime muttered.

Clack. Rumble.

Lime opened a large drawer behind him.

"These are items I excavated. I don't know if they'll help, but if you want them, you may take them all."

***

[Scan complete.]

[Mask of Plague]

[This ominous mask was once worn by a merchant who predicted the worst plague to sweep the continent and monopolized herbs in advance, only to avoid being murdered...

— Slightly increases the chance of discovering plague-related herbs.

— When using the skill Plant Material Harvesting while wearing this item, experience gain increases slightly.]

[Scanning...]

[Circlet of the Madman]

[Is that old clown still dancing?]

.

.

.

[Shield of Persecution]

[Gloves of Defilement]

[Urn of the Fallen Angel]

[Mace of Faint Light]

[Worthless Vambrace of Darkness]

[Robes of Dark Ritual]

All items had been scanned, but the only one with immediate value was the Mask of Plague. Still, no one could tell when such things might prove useful.

If Isaac were here...

He would have told me to take them all.

Rustle!

I stowed them in my inventory and trudged out into Yublam's streets. After my talk with Lime, browsing antiques, and hearing about the city's state, morning had already arrived. Unlike before, Yublam's dawn was no longer gloomy.

The air carried the scent of breakfast preparations instead of narcotics, and smoke rose from homely chimneys rather than the pipes of broken men. The patrols had changed shifts; new faces moved steadily through the alleys.

The antidotal herbs Lime had claimed from the drug dealers they'd dissolved must have played a large part. After all, if Lime could melt flesh in real time, they could certainly craft antidotes on demand.

Thud.

I stopped before a place I had wanted to check. It was a white building with a sign marked as an inn.

Clack.

The door did not open.

No one's inside?

I sensed no presence. After slaughtering the innkeeper and his guests, it was absurd to return here, but this place was destined for a new master. The mysterious woman lingered in my mind.

Perhaps she was with Necron or someone untouchable even by them. This time, I intended to confirm her identity. The door remained firmly shut. Dust gathered on the lintel. Perhaps the handover had not yet taken place.

I circled the inn. For some reason, the small three-story building felt larger than Yublam's inner keep. It was strange. Yet I sensed nothing within or without. I made two slow circuits around it. There was nothing unusual.

Brrrzzzt!

A beetle fluttered from tree to tree. Had I not noticed it, I might have left Yublam behind entirely. I had seen this one before. I could not say why, but nowhere else in Yublam had I ever encountered such a beetle. It was too conspicuous to ignore.

Tracking.

I focused on the tiny insect, but it only circled the trees behind the inn. I only saw one beetle and no others. The emptiness made me feel foolish. For a moment, I thought I had sensed someone watching me, but it must have been nothing.

Hmm...

I would return when the new owner arrived. For now, I turned slowly toward the gate and left.

***

Ten horses and a single, functional carriage sped along a mountain road. The pace was little more than a brisk canter. Knights rode around the carriage like a living shield, and ahead of them all rode a single knight. That knight was taller and broader than the rest. Although he had strapped his greatsword to his back, he moved with the lightness of a dancer and eyes that missed nothing.

Clippity clop!

On the winding road, he urged his horse faster to scout ahead and ensure the carriage's safety.

"Neigh!"

The beast suddenly reared at the grass by the roadside, then toppled sideways at the crest of the pass. On the other side, there was a steep slope. There was no time to seize the reins or kick free of the stirrups.

Rubia leaned from the carriage, her face drained of blood as she screamed, "Christina! Christina!"

The others leaped from their horses, rushing down the slope.

"Heh heh heh..."

Kirk clutched his telescope in rapture. His men, also watching through their lenses, grinned and nodded.

"She's fallen cleanly."

"Who knew threatening a stable boy would work this well?"

"Huhuhu..."

Kirk did not reply. He only smiled. Just as he expected, Christina fell. Anyone who ate the Illusion Root and then smelled the Phantom Thorn within a day, man or beast alike, would instantly convulse. He couldn't touch Rubia's food.

But the ogress' horse?

That, he could.

"She's not moving!"

"Quiet. Wait."

"She doesn't look dead..."

"Boss! We saw her fall hard. We heard the crack!"

"Heh. It's done."

Christina bled from her brow, her right shoulder limp and unresponsive.

"It's a success."