CH 47

Chapter 47: Bread Thief

On the wall, something mysterious and black was swarming against the walls.

Yuto carefully and cautiously approached the objects.

But as soon as Yuto got a good look, he recognized the creatures.

Yuto: “Oh, they’re Slimes.”

The creatures were a black-colored Slimes.

But a Slime is typically transparent and clear.

Eliz: “A Black Slime, hmm….this is very rare.”

Yuto: “You’re right. The most famous colorful Slimes are the ones that appear in the deeper part of the Dungeons - the Chaos Slimes…”

Yuto’s muscles tighten at the thought.

A Chaos Slime is a B-Rank Monster.

With just Yuto and Eliz, they would not walk away unscathed from that encounter.

But the Slime in front of Yuto did not give off a B-Rank Monster aura or atmosphere.

For comparison, Yuto takes Pino out of his bag.

Being suddenly exposed to light, Pino frantically shakes his jelly body.

Yuto: (..........he’s cute.)

Yuto warmly regards Pino’s actions and brings up Pino to compare him to the other Slimes.

The only difference that Yuto can see is just the color.

Besides the color, there is really no difference between the two.

Yuto: “Hmmmmm…..?”

Yuto moves Pino to his shoulder, and takes his finger to rub against the Black Slime’s outer surface.

Rubbing his finger against its surface, the color of the Slime did not rub off on Yuto’s finger.

It doesn’t look like the Black outer coloring is something that is just on the surface.

Yuto sniffs the finger where he touched the Black Slime. Yuto: (ーーyuck!)

An intense sewage odor stained the tip of his finger.

There’s no doubt about it. The pollution of the Water Source was caused by this Slime.

Yuto: “Eliz, can you help me look for any Black Slimes just like this one?” Eliz: “Understood, yes!”

From there, Yuto quickly searched through the Water Source for the Black Slimes.

He and Eliz found 20 Black Slimes total in the area.

Yuto: “So there were this many…….”

Eliz: “It’s a lot, yes.”

As they look at the Slimes they collected, Yuto furrows his brows.

Slimes by nature cleanse water. So even if they lived next to a water spot, they wouldn’t cause any issues.

He couldn’t think of any reason why they transformed this way.

The only thing they could have eaten here would have been moss and water, so there’s no other source that could have caused this transformation.

At the very least, there was nothing in the area that Yuto could see that could have caused the Slimes to transform this way.

Eliz: “Mr. Yuto, what should we do with this, yes?”

Yuto: “Let’s go ahead and stuff them in this bag.”

Yuto thought about taking care of them right here, but only Spells work on Slimes.

You can’t really harm Slimes with physical attacks, and it would be a nightmare if one of their damaged bodies falls into the water.

And right now, the only Spell Yuto can use is {Lightning}.

If he’s not careful, he’ll damage or destroy the Water Source here.

In short, it would be impossible for him to take care of these Slimes here.

So Yuto starts placing the Slimes inside his sack.

He will go to the Dungeon later and take care of these creatures later.

Once they collected all the Slimes, they leave the Water Resource Area, and head to the Bread Store.

“OHH!! Thank you～! Now we can continue breaking bread here.”

As they explain the cause of the problem, the woman running the bread store thanks Yuto and Eliz with tears in her eyes.

“If the water goes bad, I would have had to close the shop permanently….I’m so glad that it didn’t come to that.”

Yuto: “I love this Bread Store, so I’m glad the Request went well.”

Yuto is also relieved at the Bread Store Owner’s words.

If this store disappeared, Yuto wouldn’t have known what he would be able to eat to live going forward.

He received the 1000 gards reward and 100 pieces of bread.

Yuto carried the bread with both hands and whistled a tune as he left the store.

Yuto: “There’s at least 50 days worth of food right here! …...OH! I can’t forget, I need to give Eliz her share.”

Dividing up the spoils is very important in a party.

Ignoring this ironclad law, your party would dissolve before you know it.

As Yuto realizes this, he opens his mouth to speak.

Yuto: “Okay, let’s divide this up like usual.”

Eliz: “Nーno. I don’t...really want the bread, yes….”

Yuto: “Hm? Really? But even if we divide this up into 2, that’s 25 days of food for each of us.”

Eliz: “I’m….good, yes.”

Eliz shakes her head to decline.

If she’s this insistent, Yuto cannot force it on her.

Yuto took the bread and gave Eliz the 1000 gards instead.

They return to the Guild to report that the Request was fully completed.

After that, Yuto took the sack of Black Slimes and within the Dungeon, cast his {Lightning} spell and took care of them.

The Slimes showed no hint of resistance and melted away when the spell struck.

Yuto: “So they really were no different than regular Slimes….”

After all the work was done, Yuto parted with Eliz and headed back to his rundown apartment room.

Yuto: “～～♪”

Holding bags of bread in each hand, Yuto’s steps are very light.

Of course it is.

He’s carrying 100 meals worth of food supplies at the moment.

Yuto hummed as he walked down the street. It was right then...

ーー<BUMP!>

Something hit Yuto’s body.

Yuto: “Hm?”

Yuto looks down to where his body was hit.

There was a young boy who was probably younger than Eliz there.

The boy ran away into a nearby alley right after bumping into Yuto.

Yuto tilted his head to wonder what that was all about when he realized that some of the bread he was carrying was gone.

Yuto: “ーーoh no! He took the bread!!”

Realizing this, Yuto chases after the boy.

The residential area where Yuto’s apartment lies also houses those who rarely have enough to eat.

Pickpockets and robbery are all too common there.

But it is thanks to that fact that Yuto’s rent is so cheap too…

So walking in that kind of neighborhood without any alertness or awareness carrying an arm full of food, Yuto became a prime target.

Yuto: “Ugh! I should have put the bread in my inventory!)

Yuto was being too careless.

As he runs after the pickpocket, Yuto places the rest of the bread into his inventory.

He begins to use his [Presence Detection] to feel out where the thief might have gone to.

Yuto: (ーーfound you!)

Using all of the physical enhancements from his Level Ups, Yuto ran at full-speed towards the thief.

Rounding a third corner, Yuto came into sight with the thief.

He kicks the ground and reaches out his hand.

Yuto: “Got you!”

“AHH!!”

Yuto grabs the boy by the shoulder, and the boy almost trips to the ground.

But Yuto picks him up gently.

The boy realizes his predicament and waves his arms and legs wildly but it’s too late.

Yuto had no intention of letting the boy go.

Yuto: “Give back the bread you stole.” “Nーno! This is mine!”

Yuto: “Yeah, yeah.”

Yuto forcefully takes the bread back from the boy.

Yuto has no intention of scolding the boy to tell him not to take things.

There are too many people in Kronos who has to do this to keep living.

Asking someone like this to not steal is equivalent to telling them to “starve and die.”

Yuto did not want to say anything that irresponsible.

Yuto was also in the same boat as this boy.

On the contrary, he had no experience stealing like this but…

It was 10 years ago…

After leaving the Orphanage, Yuto never had enough to eat every coming day.

There were days he drank water to dull the hunger for several days.

Every day, he struggled to survive.

There were times when he was sure that once he closed his eyes, they would never open again.

Remembering those experiences, Yuto could not come to scolding the boy at all.

All he wanted was for the things the boy stole to be returned.

“Hーhey, stop that!”

Yuto: “Yeah, yeah. This is the last one you took from me.”

It was right then after Yuto took back the final piece of bread…

“YOU BASTARD!! GET YOUR HANDS OFF TOKMU!!”

Sensing murderous intentions, Yuto immediately steps away.

The next moment…

A long thin needle pierced the air where Yuto was standing a moment ago.