Dungeon Bakery Chapter 12

Watching the slimes crawl toward the Moist White Bread even at the cost of wearing down their own bodies, Baek Seol let out a small groan.

If I hadn’t accepted the quest……

The thought that all the slimes before her would have died made her feel uneasy.

The truth was, the reason she had accepted the bread-delivery quest despite the risk of entering the dungeon wasn’t because of them.

It was because of the rewards the system had modified.

Baek Seol glanced at the quest window, her expression complicated.

<Quest: The First Bulk Order!>

The regular customer, Slime No. 97, is about to place a bulk order. Successfully complete your first bulk order!

Condition: Personally deliver 20 loaves of white bread to the location indicated by Slime No. 97 (Status: Incomplete)

Reward: Dungeon Bakery Owner Lv. up!
**     Acquire 30,000P**
**     Slime’s Gratitude**
**     New! Dungeon Bakery Debt Forgiveness**

Upon Failure: Slime appearance rate drops to 0%

The sentence that glowed in red.

That was the newly added reward—the promise to forgive an enormous amount of debt.

It seemed the system really wanted Baek Seol to complete this quest.

The reward was simply too tempting for her to refuse.

It would forgive the staggering debt of 999,999,999P.

They’re going to get rid of all nine 9s.

There was no way she could turn that down.

And now she was right on the verge of completing the quest.

Right on the verge of having her debt forgiven.

She should have been happy.

So why do I feel so uneasy about this?

Baek Seol tousled her hair, then sighed and approached the slimes.

She began carrying the slimes that seemed unable to move, one by one, to the open area.

She simply felt worse leaving them where they were.

“Kyung……?”

The slime’s body felt dry and parched against Baek Seol’s hand.

It felt as though they might crumble if she handled them even slightly wrong, so Baek Seol moved them as carefully as possible.

After carrying them one by one, the area was fairly well organized.

“One, two, three…… nineteen.”

There were exactly nineteen slimes gathered in the open area, including Slime No. 97.

“I think one is missing.”

She had ordered twenty loaves of bread, so there should have been twenty slimes.

But no matter how many times she looked around, she couldn’t find the last one.

Could it be unable to get out of its house?

Its condition might be so serious that it was incapable of moving at all.

Seeing Slime No. 97 bouncing anxiously from place to place, Baek Seol’s expression hardened as she began checking the houses one by one.

As she bent down deeply to look inside a house, Baek Seol spotted a slime that had hardened like a lump of stone.

Inside the largest house in the village, a slime was struggling.

It looked as though it was squeezing out every bit of strength it had, but its body simply wouldn’t move the way it wanted.

“Kyuuuu…….”

At some point, Slime No. 97 had come up beside Baek Seol.

It groaned softly before going back to the open area and nudging a loaf of bread with its antenna.

But contrary to what it intended, the bread kept moving in the wrong direction.

Baek Seol watched as Slime No. 97’s antenna drooped.

Ah. It must be difficult to carry it without hands.

If you put the bread inside its body, the bread would quickly dissolve because of the slime’s natural properties……

It seemed to desperately want to take care of its fellow slimes, but there were limits to what it could do.

Baek Seol immediately walked over, picked up the bread, and brought it back.

Then she pushed the bread inside the house.

From within, she heard a small sound of gratitude.

“Kyung…….”

“Is that everyone?”

The slimes each began nibbling away at a loaf of bread.

Because their bodies were so dry, it seemed difficult for them to swallow it all at once like Slime No. 97 had.

For a while, the only sound was the quiet crunching of the slimes gnawing on the bread.

And finally, once everyone had eaten their bread……

“Kyung!”

“Ppuu!”

“Gging!”

The bodies of the slimes that had been dried out and on the verge of crumbling began to glisten.

The cracks covering their bodies slowly closed, and elasticity returned to them.

Boing, boing!

Boing-boing-boing!

The excited slimes bounced around Baek Seol, each letting out adorable little sounds.

Slime No. 97 was among them.

“Ahaha! That tickles.”

“Kyung!”

Apparently, simply bouncing around Baek Seol wasn’t enough for Slime No. 97.

Like a cat rubbing itself affectionately against its owner, it even rubbed its body against Baek Seol’s calf.

Only after seeing that all the slimes seemed healthy did the lingering discomfort in her heart finally begin to fade.

Was that why I felt so guilty?

Even though they had been in such a serious condition that their lives were at risk, she had tried to reject the quest simply because she was thinking about her own safety.

And then, the moment she saw the reward promising to pay off her debt, she had eagerly changed her mind.

It made her feel a little ashamed of herself.

Feeling sorry, Baek Seol gently stroked Slime No. 97’s head.

The slime happily swayed its antenna back and forth.

They’re definitely monsters.

But can they really be this cute……?

She had been reluctant to get too close because, customer or not, they were still monsters.

But it seemed that the wall she had unconsciously built up inside her heart had begun to crumble.

So monsters aren’t just scary.

And her wariness toward this place—the Dungeon of Beginnings—seemed to have faded a little as well.

Even though this was only her second time here.

Just as Baek Seol smiled faintly, the slime that had been inside the largest house emerged.

“Kyuuu.”

The moment that slime appeared, the other slimes stopped circling Baek Seol and slowly cleared a path.

Is this slime something like their leader?

She hadn’t noticed while it was inside the house, but its body was also the largest.

Unlike the other slimes, which came in all sorts of colors, its entire body was black.

On top of that, horns protruded from the place where its antenna should have been, and a faint black mist seemed to seep from its body……

Unlike the other slimes, it had a rather intimidating appearance.

If Baek Seol had encountered this slime somewhere else, she surely would have been terrified and run away.

But right now, she wasn’t scared of it at all.

“Kyuuuu.”

The reason was that tears were streaming from the round eyes of the black slime standing before her.

It lowered its body slightly, as though bowing in gratitude.

The other slimes followed suit and bowed as well.

“Y-you don’t have to do that.”

She had actually done all this because of the reward rather than because she wanted to help them.

Receiving such a heartfelt show of gratitude made her feel both apologetic and embarrassed.

As Baek Seol awkwardly waved her hands, a system window appeared.

<System: You have completed the ‘The First Bulk Order!’ quest! Quest rewards will now be granted!>

Ch-ching, ch-ching.

The sound of money piling up rang out, followed by a bright chime.

<System: You have acquired 30,000P.>

<System: Dungeon Bakery Owner Level has increased.>

As her level increased, a series of messages appeared announcing that new features had been unlocked.

<System: The following features have been unlocked due to your level increase.>

– New display shelf unlocked. Increased installation limit
– New interior items unlocked
– New tab ‘Processing’ is now available

The new tab labeled ‘Processing’ immediately caught Baek Seol’s attention.

According to the description, she would now be able to process raw materials.

While Baek Seol was reading the description, the black slime made a sound as if calling her.

“Kyung!”

At the same time, a tear that had been gathering in its eye dropped onto the ground with a soft plop.

The tear was surprisingly large, and the sound it made when it hit the floor was strange.

It sounded like something solid had fallen, not a liquid.

“Huh? What is this……?”

Without really thinking, Baek Seol picked it up.

It automatically slipped straight into her inventory.

Then another system window appeared.

<System: The quest reward ‘Slime’s Gratitude’ is being provided.>

– Acquired Slime’s Tear
– Slime’s Protection activated

The Slime’s Tear was the item that had just entered her inventory.

And Slime’s Protection seemed to be a buff that had just been applied to her.

A small square with a faint slime icon appeared at the edge of her vision.

Did this mean she would be protected in the dungeon while it remained there?

“So you customers…… No, I mean, you guys are going to protect me from now on?”

“Kyung!”

At some point, the wall in Baek Seol’s heart had completely disappeared, and she naturally began speaking to them casually.

“That…… is really nice of you.”

She still felt uneasy about coming to the Dungeon of Beginnings.

But knowing that the slimes would protect her made her feel a little more reassured.

Maybe it’s because I saw them melt that black cow in one hit.

The slimes puffed their bodies out slightly, almost as if they were saying, Just trust us.

Having unexpectedly gained their protection, Baek Seol let out a soft laugh as she watched their adorable antics.

And at that very moment, the reward that had been the driving force behind getting Baek Seol into the dungeon was finally granted.

<System: Dungeon Bakery’s debt has been forgiven. The ‘Same-Day Instant Loan!!’ quest has been automatically completed.>

 

***

 

Slime No. 97 repeatedly waved its antenna as it watched Baek Seol disappear through the brown door.

It was the most enthusiastic farewell it could manage.

Thanks to the white bread Baek Seol had made, its fellow slimes had regained enough strength to move their bodies, and they were now repairing the village they had neglected for so long.

All of them had wanted to stay by Baek Seol’s side until she returned to the bakery.

But because of Slime No. 1’s firm order, only Slime No. 97 was allowed to accompany Baek Seol.

“Kyuttt!”

Slime No. 97 was the youngest and most recently born among their kind, so the other slimes had never really trusted him.

But after his performance this time, everyone now trusted him.

Slime No. 97 puffed up his body as large as he could and let out a satisfied laugh.

“Kyung-kyung!”

But then he remembered Baek Seol and bounced humbly.

If it hadn’t been for Baek Seol, the slime race would have been headed straight toward extinction.

Slime No. 97 vividly remembered what had happened when he was born.

Even back then, his people’s bodies had already been drying out.