The slime dragon was delicious.
Even though I couldn't keep it around to eat later because of storage issues, it was still one of the better meals I'd had since getting dropped into this world. I'd been eating monsters since I was a young orc, so slime goo was basically like eating jelly.
The problem was what to do with the rest of the slime dragon's corpse.
I kicked the slime's butt as an experiment.
"Eat it."
Shake shake.
My subordinate slime refused to eat it. But I'm the master of this dungeon now.
"If you don't eat it, I'll eat you."
Shake shake.
The slime stubbornly refused, but eventually gave up on rebelling against me. The slime wobbled and squished its way over to the slime dragon's tail.
Squish, squelch.
The slime started devouring what used to be the dungeon boss, the slime dragon. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed more like a worm than a dragon, but hey, the system calls it a dragon.
So what kind of lair did this dragon set up anyway?
I pulled up the dungeon info.
──────────────
[Grimfang's Dungeon]
Rank: E-rank
Danger Level: 0
Capacity: 2 / 21
Prisoners: 1 / 3
Former slime dungeon. The whole place is filthy.
──────────────
That's it?
Is that really it? I was dumbfounded and looked around for more information, but there was nothing. All I could tell was that this dungeon posed zero threat to anyone—just an orc and a slime.
If this were Forneus's dungeon, the rank would be way fancier and the danger level would be sky-high, but this is Grimfang's dungeon—my dungeon. I just gotta build it up bit by bit from here, so let's think positive.
I'll grow my forces and one day slap Forneus right across the face.
At least this dungeon has one 3-star orc, one slime with plenty of potential, and a prisoner who's still knocked out cold.
[Eila: Unconscious for 40 hours]
"She's gonna get dehydrated at this rate."
I grabbed a handful of slime dragon goo and shoved it into Eila's mouth. Thanks to squeezing it real good, it wasn't too sticky, and Eila instinctively gulped it down even while passed out.
'She's alive, but I have no clue how to wake her up.'
Maybe the shock was too much—she's been out cold for almost two days. Just to make sure Eila doesn't go wild when she wakes up, I wrapped her body tight with vine stems I grabbed from the entrance.
Eila became a mummy wrapped in vines.
"If I just tie up her wrists and ankles half-assed, who knows what she'll pull. Right, Lime?"
The slime was munching on the dragon like some pig going oink oink. It had already gobbled up the tail and was now working on what I assumed were the legs. Little piggy.
'Just in case, I should leave this part open.'
I tore off the vines wrapped around Eila's lower body, then wrapped them tightly around just her shins down to her ankles. This left her legs slightly spread, and my hand could slip between her thighs without any problem.
'Might need to use this at some point.'
Eila's a valuable prisoner. I've got at least one use for her already, so I need to keep her alive and well. Who knows, maybe if she changes her mind, I could use her as one of my subordinates?
'So now the most urgent thing is...'
──────────────
[Facility Construction: Gather materials to build facilities within the dungeon.]
[Bedroom Lv.0]
[Summoning Facility Lv.0]
[Prisoner Cell Lv.0]
──────────────
"Really? Just the bare minimum facilities. Damn."
If there were at least some locked ones I could see, I'd have something to imagine, but there's only three available. Still, I know better than anyone that these three facilities are absolutely essential for a dungeon.
'Let's just think of those three years in Forneus's dungeon as a tutorial.'
Even though I wasn't the boss of that dungeon but just a grunt slave warrior, you can't help but learn a thing or two when you're stuck somewhere for three years. It's not like I know nothing about the system.
'It sucks to copy that bitch's management style, but what choice do I have?'
Since Forneus's dungeon is all I know, I'll have to follow her playbook for now. Luckily, even though Forneus had shit taste in people, she was excellent at running a top-30 dungeon.
First, I need labor. Let's build the summoning facility.
──────────────
[Construction: Build Summoning Facility Lv.0]
[Wood 0 / 10]
[Magic Stone 0 / 1]
──────────────
"Magic stone?"
Wood is one thing, but where am I supposed to get a magic stone? Magic stones are the gems inside a monster's heart when you kill them, right? So they want me to rip out my own heart?
Where can I get a magic stone—
Squish, squish.
"Hey, you pig-like slime bastard!"
I grabbed the slime and struggled like hell to pull it away from the slime dragon. The slime had eaten the dragon's corpse right up to where the magic stone was, and it clung desperately to the corpse.
Splat!
After a long wrestling match, I successfully yanked the slime off. The food-crazed slime was cleaning up the goo splattered on the floor while I pulled out a tiny magic stone from what I assumed was the slime dragon's heart.
"At least I got one."
Judging by the size, it's about a mid-grade magic stone, which means 3-star basically equals mid-grade.
"Perfect match."
Lowest grade, low grade, mid-grade, high grade, highest grade. Among those, I'm a level 75 orc in the mid-grade range. Even though I'm mid-grade, I'm still stronger than that high-grade 4-star level 25 human lady knight, so that's some consolation.
"As for wood..."
The icon looks just like a log, so I wondered if this would work. I gathered the vine stems that had been wrapped around Eila's butt in one spot.
[Wood 0 / 10]
[Magic Stone 1 / 1]
"Time to chop some lumber. Hey, Lime, you done eating?"
Shake shake. The slime shook its head. It already seemed about 1.5 times bigger than when I first met it, and the color of its goo was getting darker too.
"Heh heh heh. You're useful in all sorts of ways."
Since the slime's my subordinate, I've got a great way to check on it. Subordinate list.
──────────────
[Subordinate List: 1 / 20 subordinates in Grimfang's Dungeon]
[Nameless Slime ★☆☆☆ Lv. 7 / 15]
──────────────
"Lime? It says you don't have a name. What's up with that?"
I picked up the slime and asked. The slime shook its head, stubbornly refusing the name given to it.
"You don't like Lime? How about Rimuru then?"
Shake shake.
After a long battle between me and the slime, the slime finally became [Lime].
[Lime: ★☆☆☆ Lv. 7 / 15]
It's only 1-star and its level's just 7—about a tenth of mine—but Lime's gonna be a good subordinate for running all kinds of experiments.
Squish squish.
I held Lime in both hands and kneaded it. Even though its body was cold, the texture felt pretty similar to Eila's chest. Now I get why people fuck slimes.
"I'll experiment with that later. Right now we need to get some wood, right?"
I grabbed Lime and shook it around. Even though we can't really communicate, I was just happy to have the only thing I could kinda talk to in this cave I'd been left alone in. Even if I'm the only one doing the talking.
"So for the wood..."
I gathered the vine stems I'd pulled from Eila's lower body in one place. There's exactly ten strands—maybe this trick'll work?
[Wood 0 / 10]
[Magic Stone 1 / 1]
Nope, didn't work. Since the icon looks like log chunks, maybe I actually need to chop down a tree and bring it back whole.
"Alright Lime, let's go. You're gonna have to play the role of an axe."
Slimes should be able to break down fiber, right? I kneaded Lime and headed out of the cave.
***
In the Barony of Virgo in the Zodiac Kingdom, there exists the Elven Forest.
The forest folk, skilled in magic and spirit arts, originally never left their woods and just pursued peace in their own territory. But as the conflict between the Demon King's army and the human alliance intensified, they got dragged into the war.
The elves sided with humanity.
The reason wasn't complicated—the Demon King's army had attacked the elven villages.
After getting hit first, the elves stood against the Demon King's army, but they didn't actively join the human alliance either.
"We will simply defend our own territory."
The high elven elders didn't want the elves to suffer harm, and the human alliance kept sending special envoys daily, hoping the elves would join the war.
This made the atmosphere in the forest tense, and the pure, young elves started getting swept up in it.
"The humans coming to the forest seem nice though. Why can't we help them?"
They didn't yet understand the ugliness of humans and war. They just got tired of the elders repeating "no" over and over.
"Honestly, I don't get the elders at all. Right?"
A small elf with light brown hair, Lune, played with the wind spirit while gossiping about the elders. They strolled through the forest making small talk, then caught a whiff of rough, ominous wind.
"Sylph...!"
Lune grabbed her tiny bow. Rumored to be a promising future hunter, Lune was exceptionally skilled with both bow and spirits despite being a young elf.
Swoosh, swoosh.
Something was damaging the forest. Lune leaped through the tree branches, approaching whatever it was.
Huff huff, huff.
With rough breathing, a tree fell. And where the tree fell stood a green monster, buck naked, dripping sweat while chopping up the wood.
"..."
Still young, Lune's mind went dizzy seeing the thing dangling below the green monster's belly.
And at that moment.
Crack.
Lune accidentally stepped on a branch, and the monster noticed her.
Kuhuhup.
The monster was definitely smiling at her.