I searched through the belongings of the man who had swung his sword clumsily. He had awkwardly wielded a bastard sword that seemed newly acquired, and he awkwardly swung it around, lacking any trace of skill. Among his things, I found a large wooden box and wondered what it was.
Inside were various kinds of fruits. Among them, large grapes caught my eye. The grapes were plump and looked fresh. I plucked them one by one. The skin, red and ripe, could make good wine. I carefully peeled the skin with my fingertips, ensuring not to tear the flesh inside.
The inside was moist, and the flesh was plump, with no seeds. I could feel the fertile soil and the hot sun that had ripened these grapes. I tapped them gently a few times with my fingers, swiftly peeling them without breaking the skin.
I carefully peeled the grapes. However, I wasn't going to eat this sweet fruit myself. I could chew it, but I had neither a tongue to taste the flesh nor internal organs to digest it. Between my ribs, there was nothing but empty darkness and air.
I looked at the woman hanging in the spider web. Humans were fragile. They could die just from not drinking water. If I left her , it wouldn't take long for her to reach her limit. If I didn't plan on killing her, it was time to put something in her mouth.
There are no other hostages.
I just killed the three who had entered the dungeon. I cut one's throat and stabbed a sword into another's chest. There were no other useful ones left. I had to keep this woman alive, because I had many questions to ask.
I approached the spider web.
I expected the woman to plead or make a desperate request, but she said something unexpected instead.
"Are you willing to negotiate now?"
I flinched in surprise.
For a moment, I stopped in my tracks, puzzled by the unexpectedness that rose up my spine. This woman was hanging in mid-air. She had been starving for three days like that. Her eyes were sunken, and her voice was faint, barely audible. In that situation, she spoke of negotiation.
I looked at the peeled grape with its white flesh exposed. I did not offer it to her. I put it in my mouth and swallowed it. I felt the juicy liquid flow down between my teeth.
If I had a tongue, I would be savoring the rich grape flavor and the sweet and sour taste, but unfortunately, I couldn't feel such sensations. This was just to tease her.
The woman sighed as she must have felt regret. After a few chews, I stopped. The half-chewed flesh fell to the floor through my empty ribcage. However, I was the one who felt annoyed.
I couldn't taste anything, and she pointed that out.
If I had skin, my face would have turned red.
I looked at the woman. She was young, perhaps around twenty. I had acted childishly toward a young woman.
I shook my head in disgust at myself. Thankfully, the woman broke the awkward silence.
"Did the word negotiation offend you?"
That was true. Admitting it would have been embarrassing.
Pretending to be calm, I replied, "That word is funny. Do you think you're worth that much?"
"Yes! I must be worth more than those guys, right? You killed them right away, but you kept me alive, didn't you?"
She looked at the dead men, and I did too. She had a point. The contrast between the sprawled-out men and the woman hanging in the web was striking. At first, she had begged for her life. But now that I put my sword away and sat at the table, she didn’t back down. She was clearly aware of her own card.
In an F-rank dungeon, adventurers as valuable and cooperative as her were rare. Most of the adventurers I met were useless, like the three dead men. They were either a little better, or even more pathetic.
What they knew amounted to the knowledge in a single book. They would see the world through only one crude perspective. Even if I demonstrated an overwhelming difference in strength, many would still merely see me as a Skeleton Soldier who deserved to be broken.
I hesitated for a moment, but I had to admit it eventually. I needed to use this woman.
I peeled another grape, and the woman opened her parched lips.
Did she sense I was going to feed it to her this time?
I pushed the grape into her mouth, like feeding a baby bird.
She let out a sound that sounded like a sigh and a moan. She chewed it thoroughly, savoring it.
Her whole body trembled as she ate.
If she was going to eat like that, why did she talk about negotiations?
"You have remarkable self-control,” I commented.
The woman hanging there smiled with her eyes. I peeled a few more grapes and fed them to her, giving her small amounts of other food as well. It felt like feeding a bird.
I let her eat slowly. I figured she must feel somewhat satiated by now.
I asked, "Why did you do that?"
It wasn't an interrogation. It was a simple question because I was genuinely curious.
Why did she act that way?
The woman looked at me in response to my question. From her perspective, it was a sudden question, but she seemed to have an idea of what I was asking.
"What do you mean by that?"
She didn't answer immediately and tried to buy some time.
She smiled shyly. It was a smile that would likely work well on a human male.
I asked again, "Why didn't you ask them for help?"
Why hadn't she asked the men to rescue her?
Honestly, there were still many important questions I hadn't asked, such as the surrounding dungeons, for example. That would have been a practical topic. But more than anything, I wanted to ask her that.
The woman tilted her head and replied, "Eh? How would a man save a woman?"
The answer came without delay. Her tone was one of puzzlement, as if wondering why I would ask something so obvious. I was taken aback.
"But you're the same species, aren't you?"
The woman burst out laughing cheerfully. Her laughter echoed several times through the dungeon. Despite her lack of strength, she laughed with her whole body.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Heh... You think I'm of the same species as them? It wouldn't be easy to be that far from being one, even if I wanted to."
The woman paused briefly before continuing, "They would never think of me as the same. Without caring what I think, all they want is to tear off my clothes and pin me down. Is that what you call being the same species? Ha, what a great species indeed."
Suddenly, I thought of what had happened to Rubia. The woman's words, still hanging in mid-air, started to make a bit more sense. I silently mulled over her words.
She continued, "If anything, you and I are more like the same species. Much closer."
"Because we share the same enemy?"
"Our structures are similar."
"Look at them. When they see you, they just want to rush in, crack your skull, and loot everything, right? Oh, look at my mouth."
She glanced at me cautiously.
"We're in similar situations, you know."
I could sense what she was trying to say, but I didn't press further. Whether I agreed or not, continuing to ask questions and listening to answers about this felt like establishing some kind of mental connection with her. Thinking of what happened to Rubia made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I decided to change the subject.
"You're called Rena, right?"
"Do you not have a name, Mr. Knight?" she asked.
"Hmm, can I give you one?"
She suddenly took a bold step. I didn't answer.
"I don't think we're on that kind of level."
"Sorry. That was rude of me."
I paused for a moment and then spoke again. "I'm thinking of using you. I'll collect human relics for you. You sell them. Grow in your guild and bring back information."
Rena smiled brightly and nodded without hesitation.
"Great! That's what I wanted."
Then she added, "But instead of saying you'll use me, why not trust me?"
It was amusing to hear such words from someone who seemed unlikely to trust anyone. Or perhaps it was intended as a joke. It was a light joke that could only come from someone who had a ludicrous distance from trusting someone.
I moved my cervical vertebrae slightly.
Would she recognize this as a sign of laughter?
I cut through all the spider web, laid out a blanket on the cave floor, and placed the woman down.
Rena slumped onto it.
Her whole body seemed to ache, and she twisted a few times before settling down.
"Tell me everything you know about the nearby dungeons."
"Hmm, I have a question."
"Is your goal to hunt adventurers, or to conquer dungeons?"
Rena let out a small moan. I didn't plan only to deal with the adventurers who got caught in the dungeon. I had achieved Swordsmanship Lv. 5 after eight months of swinging my sword without any conditions.
It wasn't a skill gained from hunting humans. It was thanks to the swordsmanship talent Lv. 1 obtained by defeating the boss of the catacombs. I also planned to claim those rewards from the bosses of other dungeons.
Is it acceptable for a mere Skeleton Soldier from an F-rank dungeon to roam around other dungeons and hunt their bosses?
That question was fundamentally flawed. It was a trivial matter, not even worthy of debate. There were things that could be done by luck, and there were things that could never be done.
A mere Skeleton Soldier wandering other dungeons to hunt bosses clearly belonged to the latter category. Before considering whose side one was on, such an occurrence was impossible. There was no need for value judgment on what fundamentally could not happen.
But I intended to do just that.
The woman looked up at me wide-eyed and said, "Everyone will be your enemy."
She coughed lightly and continued, "There's one E-rank dungeon, one D-rank dungeon, and two C-rank dungeons."
"That's all I know within a week's distance. The E-rank is the Dry Underground Cemetery, the D-rank is the Ruined Spider's Vault, and the C-ranks are the Twisted Mist Region and the Deceptive Jungle."
"Within a week's distance, by foot?"
"Yes, by walking. Oh. Is that a lot? I thought it was quite a few..."
She tilted her head. I guess that's how it was in this period. The Abyss hasn't opened yet.
"There aren't many monsters around here, are there?"
"Yes, the south is the second rarest region for dungeons after the central area. If you go to the western desert or the eastern mountains, there are still quite a few. There are also quite a few tribes if you didn't know."
Indeed, monsters lived in the western desert and the eastern mountains. Of course, some monsters lived there because they liked sand or mountains. But those were not the majority.
More than half lived there because they had been pushed out. The land had the scorching sun, the dry air, the cold of high mountains, and rugged terrain. They lived there because it was less horrific than humans. To avoid contact with humans, monsters lived in such places to be treated as if they didn't exist.