83 – I’m No Adult.

‘…Annoyance, rage, selfishness, jealousy.

And… inferiority complex, is it? This.’

A thought flashed through Jill’s mind for a moment.

In that head of his that had already been severed.

It goes without saying, but just because his head fell off

didn’t mean he would die.

As Jennison suspected,

this boy was a slime.

And a very special slime at that.

What is the definition of this special slime?

Only a very small number of slimes

can adapt the characteristics of their environment

into their own bodies.

Unique individuals like Metal Slimes or Water Slimes

belong to that category.

So, what are the conditions

under which these slimes are formed?

It’s simple. Only those who completely absorb

everything of what they first absorbed into their bodies,

gain the power to be called unique individuals.

And Jill was a being unique and unmatched

even among those unique individuals.

Because what he absorbed first

was none other than a human.

A newly born slime is weak.

So much so that puberty-aged boys could beat it.

When a slime is born, it is mostly

when a large slime divides into smaller individuals.

It goes without saying, but

Jill was very small at first.

To the point of panicking and running away

at the sight of just one rabbit.

But, as fate would have it,

he was apparently able to overcome

the young boy collapsed by the riverbank,

weakened by three days of hunger.

It was his first “food” as a slime.

The body of the human he first absorbed

was so sweet, so delicious.

For a newly born slime,

it was an unparalleled blessing, a joy.

He absorbed.

Every last bit of him.

The boy’s body, already thin and not large to begin with,

was small enough for the newly born slime

to fully consume.

He was happy, overjoyed.

He wanted to savor this sweetness for a long time.

But that was only fleeting.

As mentioned before,

the condition for creating a unique entity

was to absorb “everything”

of the object it first consumed.

And that “everything”

included even the intangible.

A turmoil.

Of hunger and pain.

A surge.

Of fatigue and memories.

They surfaced.

The experiences the boy had endured.

The hunger of a boy who’d been starving for almost three days,

and the fatigue that had accumulated in his body,

were absolutely beyond what the newly born slime could bear.

The constant feeling of hunger,

the fatigue accumulating in his body,

and the memories of the boy, constantly crashing in,

tormented him.

The woman who waved a rice paddle at the boy, telling him to get lost

when he tried to beg for food.

The gang of thugs who bullied him, asserting their dominance

even when he was just selling newspapers to earn money.

Hunger gnawed at him, cold seeped into his bones as he lay upon the unforgiving street. A man spat at him, indifferent.

The nobles, who during his enslaved years, had driven him and his parents relentlessly.

A venomous resentment, for all of them, coiled within the slime.

Resentment for the old woman who wouldn’t spare even a root vegetable when his belly ached.

Fury at the thugs who casually snatched the meager coins he’d earned through sweat and toil.

Inferiority, sparked by the man who looked down on him with contempt, then hawked and spat.

A thirst for vengeance against the nobles who had worked his parents to their deaths.

All of it, all of it resided within this single slime.

But this slime didn’t yet grasp what these feelings were that surged within him.

Nor did the vivid memories that danced before its nascent senses reveal what it desired.

What the boy had wished to do, what he had yearned for—

To a newly born slime, these human emotions were a baffling enigma.

So, it pondered.

Time was abundant.

It ruminated, endlessly, drawing upon the memories that persisted.

How much time had passed?

At last, the slime stirred.

And it recalled.

No, it *defined*.

The emotion the boy held was envy!

And what must be done was revenge.

He envied the old woman who cooked meals while he starved.

He envied the thugs who committed robberies, something he, in his weakness, could never do.

He envied the man who possessed the luxury to spit on others while he shivered in the cold.

He envied those who could dispose his parents lives.

He envied and resented the nobles who possessed power.

So, they would all be eliminated.

If that proved impossible, then it would be seized.

Blocking his own envy and jealousy towards what belonged to others,

and preventing anyone from becoming better than him.

So there would be absolutely no reason to be jealous.

That was the justice decreed by a once young and untainted slime.

And that justice, decreed by that young slime back then,

remained embedded deep within Zeal’s heart, to this day.

Even as he absorbed the pig nobleman, his belly slick with grease, for the second time.

Even as the girl who had followed him,

screamed for mercy, her face smeared with tears and snot.

Even when his mother took him in.

Like a shackle, a binding chain.

He acted in accordance with it.

“Haha, I am truly envious of you, Senior!!!”

“..You crazy b*stard.”

Even towards the human who was glaring at him with a rotten expression,

severing his tentacles.

He, he still.

Was envious.

So he charged.

To take, as he always had.

*

Mincing.

Viscous globs.

Finely, finely chopped,

falling *thud, thud, thud* onto the floor.

“Wait a moment..! You’re too fast, Senior!!”

“I’m not here to play games catered to your speed.”

Being a slime didn’t mean that

impacts to the body disappeared.

Just that one wouldn’t die, no matter the attack.

And right now, to me,

that aspect was rather appealing.

“Isn’t it.. about time you start getting hit a little?

Your arms and legs must be completely exhausted.”

“No, why would I give you the satisfaction.”

“Augh.. W-wait..!”

That meant I could shatter him to pieces if I wanted.

One more time, I hurled a small blade.

A tiny sliver that would probably bounce right off a slime.

“Agh…ugh…!”

“Good. Seems this works too.”

Even so, he flinched.

From the point where the little blade touched,

something was slowly melting and dripping away.

“What’s that, *sunbae*?

It’s been a while since anything’s worked on me…”

“Just some poison, the old kind.”

*Cheonilsadok* (天溢死毒) –

A poison that could more than kill the heavens.

Back in my assassin days,

I only used it when the target was overly strong.

The identity of the liquid I’d secretly smeared on the blade,

a fast-acting deadly poison.

Even old knights who’d constantly trained their bodies

could be killed instantly with that potent venom.

The fact that using it only melted off that much was a little disappointing,

but I quickly dismissed the thought

and re-coated the blade.

I never intended to end this quickly anyway.

“Haa…I wanted to play a little more…

If you pull something like *that* out, I have no choice…”

“….”

Still, there wasn’t a tremor in his voice.

No, he even seemed genuinely regretful.

Then, he picked up his head from the ground,

fitting it back together like an assembled puzzle.

Soon, the orange strands of hair were completely reattached,

and turned to face me.

“*Sunbae*, you probably have a rough idea where we are, don’t you?”

“…Inside your body, I’d wager.”

“As expected of *sunbae*!”

“Otherwise this situation wouldn’t make any sense.”

There hadn’t been even a hint of a magic casting,

and there wouldn’t have been enough time to cast it anyway.

To cast me into that desolate expanse,

Where not a blade of grass dared pierce the Great Forest.

A cloying, black-crimson earth, devoid even of scenery.

To hurl me into a place swarming with tentacles,

all writhing at his beck and call.

That, I could not permit. Especially with the sickening stench

of blood permeating everything, not just the ground.

I know not what sorcery he employed,

but my senses screamed this was the lair within him.

“Isn’t this a place obvious for all to see?”

“There are plenty of dolts too dense to grasp even this,

melting away before they know it!”

The wretch still grins, innocent as a babe, while behind him,

more tentacles continue to sprout.

On and on, the crimson tentacles emerge.

Before long, their number

surpasses double digits.

And then, from the first tentacle to rise,

a transformation begins.

“Senior, do you know how many humans I’ve consumed?”

“I do not, nor do I care to know.”

“Truth be told, even I’m not sure. I’ve eaten far too many.

And some, well, they haven’t quite digested yet.”

“….”

“Even I need time to digest, you see.

Too many bodies all at once give me indigestion…”

“..What are you trying to─”

“Here’s the question! Where do you think

those undigested morsels might be residing?”

The appearance of that first crimson tentacle

grows ever more distinct.

The smooth, pillar-like form of the tentacle

begins to contort, taking on the shape of the character 大,

and soon, distinct features – eyes, nose, mouth – emerge,

twisting my face into a grimace.

Bright, wide eyes,

a proud nose and full lips.

And flowing, lustrous hair and pointed ears.

A beauty so blatant in its imitation of an elf

that none could deny its inspiration.

This beautiful facade, a stark contrast to the twisted

My eyes slam shut of their own accord at the sight of her face, her belly ripped open.

“Ki… kill… kill me…”

“…”

“The answer is, it remains in my body,

and melts me away ever, ever so slowly!”

“Plea…se…”

“Regrettably, I am not yet full,

therefore, I cannot die just yet!”

“Please… kill… kill me!!!

Please…!!! Just kill meee!!!”

Limbs, still forming, half-made, flailed, reaching toward me.

From her eyes flowed a viscous fluid that looked like tears.

Her teeth, almost entirely melted and gone, only added to the wretchedness.

“Now, what will Senior do?

Can you kill them?”

“…You think I can’t?”

“The Senior I know could never do it.”

“…”

“Senior has always been like that, hasn’t he?

Always lending an ear to some pointless story.”

“…”

“Even when there’s harm coming your way,

you usually just ignore it, don’t you?”

“…”

“That’s Senior’s problem. You’re too hard on yourself,

and you waste too much feeling on others.”

Kill your emotions.

Discard your pity.

Exclude your conscience.

Don’t offer sympathy to others.

Put yourself first, before all others.

One of the most brutally repeated phrases I’d ever heard.

“Senior never followed it, not even once,

as if abandoning it would be the death of you.”

“…”

“Just kill them, wash your feet, and sleep soundly!

No one would say a single word, you know.”

“So, that’s why you’re in such a state, sunbae.

Even now, isn’t that so?”

Each brightly delivered word

Stabs at my heart, prick, prick, prick.

As if struck right on the mark.

Seeing my lips still sealed shut,

He seems to find renewed glee, and doesn’t stop.

“Seeing you didn’t appear at first, I thought,

‘Ah, finally, that human came to their senses.'”

“….”

“Can’t you just ignore things that don’t involve you?

Why go out of your way to help, only to get hurt,

Suffer, and be wounded? Is being wounded your hobby?

Or do you just not want to hurt other people?

Are you some kind of saint, sunbae?”

Before I even realize, a

Red tentacle is right in front of me, touching my forehead,

And then, *thump*, pushes me away.

My head whips back into place from the force,

Only to be pushed again.

“Don’t you know you could die

Meddling in other people’s affairs like that?”

*Thump.*

“Or maybe you’re just addicted to building up

Good deeds and creating debt by helping others?”

*Thump.*

“Or perhaps you have some kind of compulsion?

Do thorns grow on your body if you don’t help?”

*Thump.*

My head begins swinging back and forth,

Like a pendulum in motion,

And at the same time, my head starts to feel

Heavy, as if weighed down by a stone.

I replay the conversation in my mind,

Meeting his words with silence.

A mere fragment of time,

An eternity to me.

“…Still can’t answer.

This is losing its…charm.”

“Hng… hng, w-what…?!”

A woman’s weeping,

started to drift closer.

A crimson female elf, the one who’d been shedding tears of viscous fluid.

“That senior, I wouldn’t even dirty my hands to kill ’em.

You can just do the deed.”

“D-don’t… d-don’t…!”

“Honestly, I was told not to kill you…

but, well, one less heart shouldn’t be a problem to still save you.”

Five tendrils, unmistakably elven fingers,

twitched, reaching for me.

Tears were streaming down her face for some reason.

“P-please… just kill me…”

“….”

“I… I don’t want to kill anyone…!

Please…! Kill…me…”

In an instant, my vision went black,

and slowly, my eyes reopened.

Somehow, a mass was clutched in my hand.

No, it was the elf’s head, and

for some reason, her face held

an expression of immense joy and happiness.

“..Number 8, no, Jill.”

“Why…do you call, senior?”

A voice, so cold,

I could scarcely believe it came from my own lips.

A coldness I’d never known,

never before possessed.

“You were right.”

“…?”

“Certainly, the me back then was weak, terrible at killing,

and throwing around worthless pity.”

“….”

“But I never once stopped doing it.”

“..Don’t you realize that’s the problem?

That you have too much altruism—”

“It was self-indulgence, a way to pretend I hadn’t become someone else.”

Even as I lived, wiping human blood from my hands time after time,

Even if what I held wasn’t a pen, but a blade,

and even when I realized how terribly easy

it was to extinguish a life.

For someone who lived in the modern world, not this other one,

it was a shock too profound, and all the more,

I never wanted to forget that I was human,

not a monster.

“So, I remembered.”

“…?”

“Because people die so easily here,

to remind myself of the preciousness of life,

to act in a way that doesn’t betray my morals,

I decided I’d at least remember the names

of the people who die by my hand.”

“…You gotta keep your bullshit within reason, so I can listen—”

“And.”

I cut him off again.

With the cold glint of the blade.

“Just now, because of you, a woman died in my hands

without me even knowing her name.”

“…I couldn’t see her—”

What I severed wasn’t just the sentence.

Because his head was now split diagonally.

Seeing a head cleaved open like that wasn’t exactly pleasant.

There was no brain or blood to be found there.

Only pulsating chunks of red flesh,

filled to the brim.

“W-Wait, Senior? I really couldn’t see her—”

“You said it yourself earlier, didn’t you?

That you don’t know the number of humans you’ve devoured.”

“…?”

“You’ll be able to remember.

The name of that elven woman, I mean.”

“…??”

“Because I’m going to make your body swell of its own accord.”

My mouth didn’t open any further.

My words were unnecessary now.

Because from this point on, all the words and cries

had to come from this b*stard.

“Scream and be in pain (Hurler et Désoler)”

Once more, with the battle reignited,

the Dragon Tongue echoed anew.