Round 265

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A structure resembling traces of an ancient civilization.

However, it was very small. It looked like something that dwarfs might have lived in.

“Who could have lived here?”

It seemed to have eroded away, now just a relic of the past.

Mostly made of stone, it was cracked and covered with vines.

“How fascinating!”

“It’s interesting.”

Before forgetting, I installed a portal first as I was exploring the area with the kids.

“Shall we go back once?”

There was no rush since the main objective was achieved, and the island was much larger than I initially expected, which was also a concern.

It felt like it would take several more days to explore the whole island.

-Lord! Lord! Look at this!

Frey called me from afar.

Since all the children were gathered, I approached with curiosity.

“Look at this! There are so many slimes!”

“Huh?”

There were stone statues there.

And as Ara said, they were shaped like slimes.

Honestly, they could be seen just as round statues, but as the slime lord, I determined these were indeed modeled after slimes.

“Huh.”

-Could this place have originally been inhabited by slimes?

I nodded at Mammon’s guess.

Originally, this place was a dungeon owned by Ara.

As Ara was the owner, it was likely that slimes had lived here.

“It was different from other dungeons.”

The dungeon of Greed had goblins.

The dungeon of Wrath had gnolls.

The dungeon of Lust had the breeding tribe.

All were primarily inhabited by residents of the dungeons.

However, for some reason, the dungeon of Gluttony did not show any native slimes except for the ones I brought.

Where could they all have gone?

‘They might be gathered somewhere, but it’s too big for me to find…!’

Or perhaps this was originally a slime habitat.

But how did slimes get up to an island floating in the sky?

Anyway, it was full of mysteries.

-I found something!

Ras, sniffing around, exclaimed.

Excited, everyone rushed over, and there was something unexpected there.

“This is…”

It looked like an old field, much worn over time, but I, a farmer, could tell.

It was a field.

“Wow.”

“This is fun!”

-Really, someone must have lived here.

-I want to find too!

It felt like discovering a hidden civilization.

While wondering what they might have grown here, Ara found something else.

“Something’s growing here!”

“Where?”

Looking where Ara pointed, I saw a plant with a peculiar shape growing among the weeds and vines in the messed-up field.

It had a thick stem and something hanging at the end, either a fruit or a bud, shining.

“It’s fascinating.”

The curled ends looked almost like candy, especially with the light shining from it.

“Did someone grow this, or did it just sprout from a seed that flew here by chance?”

“I want to try it!”

Ara, too, drooled over the plant, seeing it for the first time.

It definitely seemed like an item.

I casually checked to see if an item indicator appeared.

[???]

A rare plant that grows in places with low temperatures and thin air.

Difficult to grow.

Consumption greatly replenishes mana.

“Definitely an item.”

As guessed by its appearance, it was indeed an extraordinary plant.

According to the description, it couldn’t be taken and grown elsewhere; it could only be cultivated here on this sky island in winter.

‘Is this place also a high-altitude area?’

Not a high mountain but a high island, regardless.

I wondered what else could be grown here.

After taking a brief look around with the children, we returned to the village.

It seemed that Mother and Father went home as Seon-ah, Jae-seong, and Orie were there.

“Ah, you’re back.”

Seon-ah, who had been playing with Soo, greeted us on our return.

“We went up.”

“Huh? You went up?! Can I go too?”

“Yeah. Let’s go up together later.”

After sharing this news with Jae-seong and Orie, unlike Seon-ah who had seen the island, the two were very curious.

We had a light meal and then started exploring the island again.

Entering the portal to the island, people were surprised by the unexpected landscape.

Soon, everyone was speechless at the sight of the dungeon seen from above the island.

“I’ve felt this before, but how big is this dungeon? I’ve never seen a dungeon of this scale in any records.”

It was indeed a puzzling part for me too.

Although I don’t know about other dungeons, having entered dungeons of two other Deadly Sins made Seon-ah’s words feel even more realistic.

-The Dungeon of Gluttony is naturally the largest.

Then Mammon appeared, shrugging.

It seemed that the Deadly Sins had known each other for a long time and might know something.

-This is all stuff that Ara ate in the past!

“Gasp.”

It felt like a shocking truth had been uncovered.

So, all this land was actually eaten by Ara?

-But you don’t have to worry too much! The things that were eaten did not die; they lived well inside!

“Is that really something not to worry about?”

-Um, to explain further, this dungeon is practically like the inside of Ara’s stomach.

“Eh?”

-Ara kept shedding and growing larger, and eventually became the dungeon itself. To be precise, she became a world of her own!

Amidst these shocking revelations, I looked around in a daze.

So, all this is technically inside Ara’s stomach?

-I’m not sure why it became so small, but as far as I know, that’s the case. All of this is the dungeons that Ara swallowed.

“Huh…….”

Wait, wait.

Let’s think about this.

Ara, who grew larger as she shed her skin.

Was there a trace of her eating the World Tree before?

‘When you think about it, the traces inside the World Tree were small compared to the skins that Cheong shed.’

In terms of timeline, did Ara eat the inside of the World Tree, shed her skin which was in that mine, and kept growing, eventually swallowing her own dungeon and others as well?

So, ultimately Ara herself became this dungeon, and all this is inside Ara’s stomach…………?

It was complicated.

It seemed hard to believe.

“I am 3,501 years old!”

Suddenly, Ara approached, proudly puffing out her chest and exclaiming.

-Back then, Gula, no, Ara was incredible.

Soon, Ras also nodded in agreement.

Then Ashu added,

-Ashu liked that Ara would eat anything! Teehee!

Don’t talk like it’s a garbage disposal.

Anyway, it seemed like there was some explanation for why the Dungeon of Gluttony was unusually large.

Assuming Mammon’s assumption was correct.

‘I still can’t believe it.’

Meanwhile, Seon-ah, hearing the children’s talk, seemed to think it was a joke and didn’t believe it, probably because we hadn’t told her about the Deadly Sins.

Even hiding the fact of being a Deadly Sin from the family, somehow it had not been revealed.

“How big was our Ara, then?”

“This biiiiig!” 

Ara, spreading her arms wide and flailing, was adorable. Eventually, I couldn’t resist and picked Ara up, rubbing her cheek.

“Kyaha!”

“That’s right. Our Ara was this big.”

“Yes!”

After unexpectedly learning the dungeon’s secret(?), we continued exploring the island.

Whatever the old stories were, she was practically my daughter now. I was curious, but it was just curiosity and didn’t really affect me much.

After taking a brief look around the island together, we decided to build something.

First, we selected a plot of land to be our base camp, choosing an empty space between the field and the ruins.

Through the portal, we transported building materials, and brought along Kkumuris, the gnolls, and the goblins.

Click-clack.

The building was constructed diligently.

We initially thought about setting up tents, but since this place also seemed like it would become a new base, we started proper construction.

Thump-thump.

“From here to here. That’s right. Yeah.”

I had become as familiar with being a construction foreman as I was with farming, effectively showing off the expertise I had gained from building the gnoll village.

“It’s going smooth!”

Ara also helped by carrying logs on her shoulder.

In just a few hours, a simple base camp was completed.

“Wow, amazing.”

Jae-seong, who had been helping out a bit, was impressed.

Apparently, the goblins and gnolls had improved their skills, adeptly taking on the roles of carpenters and construction workers.

“Brother, should we get help from the kids when we build the dining hall?”

“Is that so?”

No, no matter how you look at it, comparing them to someone who has been in the construction industry for over ten years is a bit…

I wanted to build a fancy dining hall, especially since dining facilities require special equipment, so I preferred to leave it to real professionals.

Instead, we agreed that they would help with minor tasks.

“It’s comfortable.”

Cheong, who had settled into a hammock we had installed, was swinging leisurely with Ara by her side.

-Lord, how about making this place into a village for the rabbit folks?

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about that. Since the breeding tribe are chefs, it might be better if they lived near us.”

-That makes sense!

Of course, they were only a portal away, but it was something to consider.

With the island being so vast, there was more than enough space for over a thousand rabbits to live comfortably.

-Ashu wants to live next to Kyu-seong Kyu-seong ‘s food storage.

When I asked Ashu for her opinion, a cute response came back. Indeed, it would be inconvenient here for cooking and getting ingredients.

Thinking of building a new village right next to Slime Village, we took a short break at the completed base camp.

“The sky feels closer.”

The stars seemed close enough to touch.

It wasn’t an exaggeration; they really did seem much closer.

As I lay there gazing at the stars, seemingly bored, Ara and Cheong suddenly ran off.

“Don’t go too far.”

“Okay!”

Since they were visible on the minimap, there was no risk of them getting lost.

The portal made it easy for the kids and others to come and go.

As I was dozing off, someone grabbed my arm and shook it.

“Dad, Dad.”

“Uh-huh?”

Cheong was holding my arm.

I wondered what was going on, but since he didn’t seem urgent, I stretched and got up.

“What’s up, Cheong?”

“Sister found something.”

“What did she find?”

Cheong kept pulling on my arm.

Pretending to give in, I got up and followed him, and soon I saw several slimes that had apparently come up as well.

“Hello guys, you came up too?”

Gloop!

But the slimes’ reaction was odd.

They all seemed overly excited as if they had been waiting for me.

Wondering what was going on, I let Cheong lead the way, and the slimes followed me.

“What’s going on, really?”

“Sister found it.”

“Hmm, what did she find?”

“Sister’s old friends.”

“Old friends?”

I couldn’t understand what she meant at all.

Is a child still just a child?

Before I knew it, we had gone quite far from the camp.

Then, finally, I saw other children gathered in a huddle in the distance.

“Hey kids, what are you doing?”

-Lord! You’ve arrived!

Frey flapped over and landed on Cheong’s head.

Then she waved her arms cutely and exclaimed.

-We found slimes!

“Slimes?”

Ho…….

Were there slimes on this sky island?

I quickly ran over.

Then Ara, seeing me running, turned around and waved.

“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong !”

“Hey! I’m here!”

“Look at this!”

Ara lifted something up.

As Frey said, it was a slime.

But its appearance was somewhat unique.

Of course, slimes’ appearances change a bit through synthesis, but this one was unique in a different way.

Glooop?

Tired-looking eyes.

A barely visible mouth.

It was a slime with eyes and a mouth.

But somehow, it fit very well.

‘It feels like something I’ve seen in a game…? Leaf story…’ 

Cough.

As I looked closely at this curious sight, the ability of the Slime Lord activated.

[Ancient Slime LV.1]

This is an ancient slime, now on the brink of extinction.

[Liquid synthesis possible]

“Ancient… slime?”

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