Chapter 2: A Hole Appeared in the Garden
“What’s this? Did it collapse or something…”
Yuma, quieting the barking Mamezou with his hand, crouched down and peered into the gaping hole. It was a round, vertical hole, about a meter deep, with a recessed horizontal tunnel.
* *
Thinking it was deeper than he expected, he noticed something wriggling inside the hole.
“Huh? What is it? Is something there?”
He peered in further, but it was too dark to see clearly. “Guess I have no choice,” Yuma said, returning to the house. He retrieved a Flashlight from the top drawer of his dresser and went back to the garden.
* *
Switching on the Flashlight, he examined the inside of the hole.
The horizontal tunnel inside the hole wasn’t even the size of a tatami mat, and it didn’t lead anywhere. It was a space where only one adult could barely fit while crouching.
And there it was, deep inside the hole.
A creature with a gray body, a little smaller than a handball, trembling and moving.
“What… is that?”
It was a mysterious creature, but he had a vague memory of seeing it somewhere. Yuma hurriedly returned to the house and searched on his smartphone.
What came up was a site listing Monsters from Dungeons.
“Found it! This is it.”
Yuma found the entry for “Slime.” It was a Monster often seen in games, but the Slime on the site looked more ominous.
The size was listed as 16 centimeters in diameter, about the same size as the one in the hole.
But there were also differences. Normally, a Slime’s body is translucent and colored ‘blue,’ ‘light blue,’ ‘red,’ or ‘green.’
However, the one in the hole was not translucent, but a strange color: gray.
“Is it not a Slime, then?”
Yuma searched the internet further. Then, an article caught his eye.
It was about a “Metal Gray Slime” sighted in an American Dungeon.
“Metal Gray Slime?”
The article stated that a strange Slime had been discovered in the medium-sized Dungeon “H211” in the Midwest of America.
The Slime was metallic in color, incredibly fast, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The leader of the exploration team who witnessed it, Eric, testified that it was definitely a new species of Slime, but the evidence footage was unclear, and the details were unknown.
Yuma continued to search for more information and found that there had been sightings in Italy as well.
An Italian Seeker named Rossini said he encountered a Slime made of metal while exploring a large-scale Dungeon.
Rossini struck it with his sword, but it was incredibly hard, and it didn’t leave a scratch. However, there was no evidence footage or images, and many people said it was just a tall tale.
“There are few sightings, but it seems to be a Slime after all.”
Yuma grimaced. If that was a Slime, then the hole in his garden meant it was a Dungeon.
Could a Dungeon really appear in a private residence like this? Thinking so, he searched further on his smartphone. When in doubt, the best thing to do is search the internet.
Looking at the news articles and posts that came up, it seemed there were cases where they appeared on private residences and the premises of private companies.
“Well, in the case of a supernatural phenomenon like a Dungeon, whose land it is doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Apparently, if a Dungeon appeared on private property, the usual procedure was to contact the nearest police station or local government.
After that, prefectural officials would come to investigate, and the Dungeon itself would be taken over by the state.
There was no mention of the procedures for handing over the land or compensation.
“That sounds like a pain…”
It would be the worst if strangers barged into his garden and it became off-limits. Mamezou would have nowhere to play either.
Yuma looked at the article on his smartphone again.
The sighted “Metal Slime” hadn’t been defeated. If the one in the hole was that Metal Slime… wouldn’t defeating it be the world’s first subjugation?
Such a thought suddenly crossed Yuma’s mind.