But for a Slime

* * *

He hid within the confusing maze of the second floor and stared around the corner, cautious of ever looking at the scout. Never know what kinda perception skills they got! He solved this by making sure to remain hidden and never look at the scout. He only watched the shadow of the scout carefully, and only that from the periphery of his vision. He grumbled softly, stretching the color of his dirty shirt before dropping a hand to his crotch, itching hard, if as quietly as possible.

He wasn’t best known for his cleanliness, but hiding down here for three days straight made him seriously reconsider his bathing habits. The watch wasn’t so bad when his friend was scouting the depths of the third floor with whatever arcane wizardry the scout class had, but to have to hide whenever his shift changed was pretty annoying.

He remained quiet, shifting against the dungeon floor where he lay. He’d found a way to quietly maintain vigil by the end of the first day, and it involved laying down and crushing himself into the corner between the wall and floor. He then slithered forward until he could barely see around the corner. He wasn’t the best or strongest, but his intelligence must have been much higher than the average since he’d always been able to find ways to sneak around, even with the superior perception of the scouts.

He kept his head tilted back and looked down his nose to catch just the tip of the shadow of the scout, his gaze and focus never wavering. He couldn’t afford not to. He had to move whenever the scouts changed shifts, slipping backwards around a corner silently whenever the next scout arrived to make sure he couldn’t be caught when the scouts swapped shifts.

Still, the best moments of his personal watch were when his scout friend returned for his shifts, the two enjoying quiet camaraderie although they were unable to speak pretty much most of the time as his friend had to focus on listening to the depths. If he had kept track of time well, his friend’s shift was soon to begin, and he was pretty tired of laying so silently and still on the floor.

His guesstimate proved to be slightly off, the next shift not arriving until a good half a dozen bells after, but he’d kept appropriate track of the shifts as his friend slipped around the corner a half bell after the shift change. He stood with a sigh even as his friend rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“You can join me now.”

“Other scout’s gone?”

“Can’t hear him.”

“Good enough for me.”

The two fell silent when they made it back to the stairwell to the next floor and his friend focused his perception into its dark depths. He wasn’t sure how he did it, but his friend claimed he could hear things down there. The silence held for several moments before he returned his perceptions to the immediate area, turning towards him.

“Still no change,” the scout said with a sigh.

He shrugged, “I can always wait.”

The scout shook his head, “You sure you want to do this? You’re being an idiot… you know that, right?”

“I’m not staying in this tin-bit, city-killer-bait of a town. I’m out of here.”

His friend chuckled at his description of the town before frowning, “You're as likely to die as to as to find a way out.”

He didn’t respond to the comment. No need for negativity! He decided to focus on a future he wanted, forging onward.

“I’ll take you with me.”

His friend rolled his eyes harder, “Nah… not going to see myself buried.”

He shrugged and the two fell silent once again. His friend kept scouting the depths and both simply enjoyed each other’s company while they waited. About half way through the shift, his friend froze, staring into the depths and without any movement in his body whatsoever. Somehow, his friend became a statue yet still radiated tense concern that quickly ratcheted up to fear. Still, he didn’t move, which was the only relief offered to him.

He began to grow deeply concerned as he watched his friend’s tension skyrocketed. This was dumb… dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb… so dumb… Not going to be able to get out of here without dying… too slow… not no dumb scout… I’m a simple wizard with…

His friend’s tension evaporated and he immediately settled back, calm and relaxed.

I’m a genius! Absolutely unrivaled. No one’s as smart as me! I’m going to be RICH! Rich, rich, rich, RICH! A genius! Seriously! A genius! The clans should take me, marry me to their next in line Matri… no… make me the Patriarch! I would be a genius Patri…

His friend interrupted his genius, “Well… whatever dumb idea you have, you better do it soon. I need to report this now.”

“Give me a bell?”

“Half a bell!”

“Where are they?”

His friend fell silent, then spoke softly, “Only one.”

He blinked at that, “Oh… makes it easier. Only one survivor?”

His friend shook his head slowly, “Only one fighter… for the past three days!”

His heart shuddered, froze, then rapidly restarted, racing, “One?”

His friend nodded. He almost reconsidered before he nodded back.

“Still going to go?”

“Yeah. Where?”

“On the path to the fourth floor.”

“Half a bell, right? Starting now!”

His friend rolled his eyes but nodded, “Better start running!”

He cursed under his breath and started scrambling down the stairs. Running in the depths of a dungeon was always a bad idea, but he didn't have much time. He didn’t begrudge his friend the half a bell, however, as even if he didn’t take into consideration his friend’s responsibility to report back to the captain, any loot or items would be eaten by the dungeon quite fast if he didn’t get to it. So, he scrambled dangerously loudly down the stairs and only slowed slightly to carefully peer around the corner to the third floor entrance before once again running down the corridors.

On flat surface, he was able to run more quietly and so sped up while still remaining silent, although he did slow at each corner before peaking around it. He quickly turned each corner, finding the path to the fourth floor easily enough, his training as a guard requiring him to know each floor’s path to the next if that floor required learning a path. His training was years old, but knowing the paths for the first half of floors was a survival requirement for all dungeon guardians. Any command sending him into the depths couldn’t be refused and he had no desire to be trapped in the depths of a dungeon, lost. So, for one of the few times in his life, he proved diligent to study the paths of the first ten floors. He cared little for the following ten and put no effort into learning them. A dungeon guard was only required to know the first half of a dungeon and could only be commanded to go in the first half. Any deeper were volunteer only missions and he had no desire to volunteer for folly. He wasn’t a fool!

He jolted erratically through the maze, silently sprinting down straights and pausing for a second to peer around corners before sprinting down the next clear corridor. His fast sprint almost made him miss his target, the man curled up in an offshoot from the main path holding a corpse in his hand, a wall of strange spike like metal spears blocking off over half he corridor. While the strange wall like construct and the man’s giant pack called for him, the half a dozen cores littering the corridor caught his eyes even more.

He glanced back at the exhausted delver before looking towards the cores once again and then quietly stalking forward. Why… did he just leave them… where… He looked around once again but found nothing untoward and quickly scrambled forward to quietly scoop up the cores there. On his fourth grab, his whole body shivered. A Great core! A Great core! He killed a Great beast alone… a Great… I heard rumors… but… should I… He almost fled at that moment, glancing back to see the two bodies lying in the dungeon corridor, one exhausted to death, one exhausted of life. Did he … no… no… must have been both… the other died fighting the Great beast… must be… he couldn’t kill it alone… And that body’s still here… so probably helped kill the last boss, so… oop… there it goes! The body faded, evaporating into mana claimed by the dungeon.

His confidence wavered, his thoughts leaping randomly to comprehend what he was seeing. His shock waned and he quickly scooped up the rest of his cores before standing to look down at the man. He stared for a time before shivering once again. Should I… Can I…

It took him a bit of time but when a soft whisper of noise popped next to his ear, he shook himself from his stupor. His friend’s small whisper of warning letting him know his time was up drove him to act and he quickly slithered around the spike wall next to the sleeping man. He stopped once again when he came around the spiked walls and took a moment, indecision rattling him for a bit before he simply acted. No time!

He quickly settled between the man and his bag. He first took a look at the bag and almost reached for it before quickly stopping himself from touching it. Dumb idea … dumb idea.. He pulled his arm back then looked back at the sleeping man. Go… no? He grimaced then found himself uncertain once again. His hand slipped down to his waist pack and he pulled out a plain metal necklace and began to fiddle with it. It slipped from his hand and clanged on the floor and he froze, his eyes freezing on the man before he breathed deeply in relief when he saw that the man remained asleep. He snatched the necklace back up and found himself still uncertain, his thoughts speeding wildly

Dumb… this is dumb… what… He grimaced and finally convinced himself. Gotta tickle the dragon’s tail to get the gold! He pulled the necklace up.

“Hey! Hey… you alright?”

He called softly to the man although he kept his hands back and even shifted back a few steps to be out of the man’s reach.

“Hey? Need any help?”

It took a couple tries to wake the man.

“Hey! Great clanner. Hello? Do you need help?”

The man took a bit but then blearily roused and then grew a bit anxious although his exhaustion made him difficult to understand.

“Ah… I? Yes! Please… Garndl help… he’s…”

“Hey… hey, hey. Here. Let me help. Do you want my help?”

“Huh? Wha… yeah. Help… I nee… Garnd need’s help.”

He grinned, gleefully. Needs help! “OK. Here… let me just. Good… please… excellent Let me just help you with this… and…”

The eccentric’s hair tie had somehow been lost, his hair getting in the way of an easy collaring. He grimaced but kept speaking soothing words as he brushed the man’s hair away. He smiled, bringing the necklace forward. The necklace settled in place with a click. He shifted back, his anxiety immediately washed away in relief. His grin grew manic with joy. It… it worked! Hahaha! He’s… mine! Mine!!

“I claim this eccentric!”