Chapter 4
"Don't come any closer!"
The one crying out was a petite girl.
She'd gone weak in the knees and couldn't stand, so she sank to the ground, trembling.
Meanwhile, the classic RPG monster—the slime—approached the girl at its leisure, bouncing along and showing off its glossy body.
It moved at about one-fifth the speed of an adult walking. Its gait was astonishingly slow and dignified.
To put it plainly, it was ridiculously slow.
Just as you'd expect from the bearer of the title of weakest monster (?)
Unlike a formidable foe, it had a feeble aura that inspired absolutely no fear.
But for the girl, it was a powerful enemy.
Even if it was a slime, a monster was still a monster. Even if it moved at a crawl, it was still a monster. Even if all it could do was dissolve clothes, it was still a monster.
Actually, that last part might make it the strongest enemy of all.
※Slimes in this game do not dissolve clothes.
People without Jobs were all equally vulnerable.
If a monster attacked them, they wouldn't stand a chance. That was common knowledge in this world.
So even though it didn't look like she was being attacked at all, and even though you might think the slime couldn't catch her if she just walked away, to children under sixteen in this world, this was a genuine threat to their lives.
She was so terrified she'd gone weak in the knees and couldn't move.
Tears welled in the girl's eyes.
There I was, yours truly, Zephyrus, secretly watching all this from behind a tree.
Not yet. It was too early to accept this quest.
The sight was so realistic that I wanted to wipe out the slime that very instant, but with a heavy heart, I waited patiently for the right moment.
Why was the slime moving so slowly? And why wasn't the girl moving, just sitting there waiting to be attacked by it?
That's because this quest was called 〈Help the Girl Attacked by a Slime〉.
That's right: she had to actually be attacked.
For this quest, I had to wait until she was attacked.
The slime's slow pace and the girl's stillness were there to let the player judge when to step in. After all, this was the Nameless Village of Beginnings, and this was a tutorial quest.
It was a tutorial meant to let players practice. Even though it was a hidden quest.
So, sorry, girl. Just hang in there a little longer.
If I went out now and wiped out the slime, the quest wouldn't trigger, and that would be the end of it.
That was the nasty part of hidden quests.
I kept staring intently from where I was, trying to pick out the exact moment.
The slime slowly and majestically approached the girl.
Then, when it was about two meters away from her, it stopped and began to quiver violently. It was tensing up as if to say, "I'm about to build up speed and attack!"
Now!
I recognized the painfully obvious signal and leaped out from behind the tree.
A beat later—no, two beats, no, about three—the slime jumped and lunged at the girl.
"Aaaah!"
The girl screamed, but by then I was already beside her.
"Hup."
My sword, swung carelessly, struck the slime and instantly reduced its HP to zero. It fell to the ground, leaving behind a slime jelly as loot, then vanished.
Yeah. Pathetic.
Even without a Job, as long as you had a weapon, there was no way a slime could beat you.
It was that pathetic.
You completed Hidden Quest 〈Help the Girl Attacked by a Slime〉.
An announcement played in my head, and I was inwardly relieved to have cleared the quest without a hitch.
If I messed this up, I couldn't retry. I need a save-and-load feature.
"—Huh? Wha?"
I turned at the confused voice behind me and saw the girl, who'd been rescued so effortlessly, looking bewildered.
Yeah, of course she was confused. That's just how slimes are.
"Are you okay? That was close. I defeated the slime, so you're safe now."
I had no idea what had been dangerous about that, but I shamelessly said so to reassure her.
At that, the girl finally realized she'd been saved and turned to me. But she just stared at my face, mouth agape, without saying a word.
Huh? Was this different from the game? In the game, she'd said something like, "Thank you for saving me. Here's a potion as a reward," then promptly left.
"Hey! Can you hear me?"
"Huh! Oh, um, I'm sorry! No, wait, um, um... Right! Thank you so much for saving me!"
"O-Oh, no problem."
When I called out to her again, she blushed for some reason and started panicking.
Her sudden intensity made me recoil a little.
"I-I came here to gather ingredients for potions when it suddenly attacked me. I thought it was all over."
"I see. I'm glad I got here in time."
I had no idea what part of that counted as "suddenly attacked" or "all over," but I nodded along and kept the conversation going. Hurry up and give me the reward potion.
"Um. I'd like to thank you, so would you mind coming to my house?"
"Huh?"
Wait, wasn't the reward supposed to be a potion?
"Ah, no, that's not what I mean. My family runs an alchemy shop, so I thought I might be able to do something to thank you. I-It's not like there's any deeper meaning to it, okay?"
The girl rattled that off as if trying to cover something up, but I was too absorbed in my thoughts to care.
The reward really should be a potion.
But I don't remember there being a scene where she invited you to her house in the game.
Maybe this was the game world, but reality was a little different from the game.
We could actually have normal conversations, too.
...I see, I see. A version of 〈Dan-Katsu〉 that's different from the game.
That sounds great!!!!
"All right! Let's go! Right now!"
"Whaaat?! You're really jumping at the chance! Um, um. I was the one who invited you, but maybe we should wait a little—"
"Why are you moving as slowly as a slime? Hurry up, let's go!"
"Ah?!"
For some reason, as soon as I got enthusiastic, the girl started hesitating, so I took her hand and started walking.
The girl made flustered little noises as I dragged her along, but I didn't care.
This world was subtly different from the 〈Dan-Katsu〉 I knew.
There was a version of 〈Dan-Katsu〉 even I didn't know, despite being called the database of all things 〈Dan-Katsu〉.
I mean, come on. How could that not be the best thing ever?!
I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
My excitement meter, which had been steadily sinking, shot back up with a vwoom and went off the charts. Still riding the high, I hurried toward the village alchemy shop.