“A child?” Alice asked, startled. She looked at Milo.

Milo put his hands up. “I don’t know!”

Stella looked at them. She pointed at Silas, curled up in the crystal. “He’s alive in there. You don’t need to cry.”

Alice blinked. “Huh?”

Stella shook her head. She knelt, keeping her hands spread, palms facing the ground. If I need to, I’ll mold the stone and vanish into the ground. “He isn’t dead. He’s fine.”

“Who are you? How did you get here?” Milo asked.

“How do you know that?” Alice demanded, stepping forward.

Stella flinched back, dropping to one knee. Her hands brushed the ground.

Milo grabbed Alice’s arm. “Calm down, Alice. You’re scaring her.”

“She’s—she’s—” A string of incomprehensible syllables escaped Alice’s mouth. She jabbed her finger at Stella, fighting Milo’s hold.

“Alice, calm down. She’s just a kid. Let’s listen to what she has to say,” Milo said placatingly.

“She’s in a boss room!” Alice argued. Even so, she calmed down slightly and stood to the side.

Carefully, Milo released her. He turned to Stella and crouched to bring himself down to her level. With a welcoming smile, he tipped his head and said, “Hello. What are you doing here?”

Stella jabbed her finger at her chest, then at them. “This is my home. What are you doing here?”

Milo furrowed his brows. “Your… home?”

“You are monster!” Alice accused her, pointing a dagger at her.

Stella crouched, but scowled fiercely. I shouldn’t have come out. I made a mistake. “You killed my mom!”

“Huh?” Milo asked.

Alice gestured at Stella. She took another step forward, raising her blade. “She’s a monster. We should kill her!”

“That’s why! That’s why your friend is like that! Because you think like that!” Stella snarled, frustrated. “You killed my mom, and now you’re going to kill me, all because I wanted to be nice and tell you—”

Milo grabbed Alice by the arm and yanked her back. Alice twisted free and gave him a look, but Milo gave her a firm look in return. He shook his head.

Alice blinked, surprised, and backed up. “What? You care?”

“I care. I think we should listen, not attack. She’s a child, Alice. She isn’t a threat,” Milo argued.

Waving her arm, Alice indicated the crystals and the boss slime. “Nothing has attacked since she appeared. Suspicious.”

The boss slime turned, tilting its head at Stella. Above her, the ceiling slimes watched as well, waiting for a signal.

Stella shook her head subtly. I’m trying to talk. If they won’t listen, then… then we can attack! But it’s better if we can talk. They aren’t attacking right now, so no one has to die, and Aster will get here soon.

The slimes all bobbled in response. The boss slime drifted protectively toward Stella, bouncing in time with its flames. A new set of spikes slowly solidified on its exterior, growing hard and sharp as they cooled.

Unlike the snakes, the slimes lacked the capacity for speech, but they listened to her commands. That’s better than the snakes, Stella thought to herself, crossing her arms. Still, they made dull conversation partners.

“So… are you suggesting that this child is the boss?” Milo said. He frowned at Alice disapprovingly.

“What are you suggesting, then? That child is wanderer, just walk through dungeon to here?” Alice mocked in return.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I think we should listen to her, not kill her immediately,” Milo returned.

“Then listen!” Stella shouted, stomping her feet.

Milo and Alice both fell silent. They turned and looked at Stella, who stood there, panting.

As their gazes fell on her, Stella stiffened. Her eyes drifted from Milo’s staff to the bloody edge of Alice’s blades. She backed up a step or two, breath suddenly short. “I… I…”

I asked them to listen. Say something! Go! Stella swallowed. She put her feet firmly on the ground and thrust out her chest, drawing herself to her full height. “I’m the Dungeon Spirit! The dragon you killed used to take care of me, before you killed her. She was my Momma, and you broke into my home and killed her. And now you’re back. And… I don’t want to keep hurting people the way you hurt me, so, so, so he isn’t dead, but… but maybe I should,” Stella rambled, her voice falling to a mutter by the end. Why am I talking to these people? I should just kill them. The way they killed Momma.

But… but it hurts, when people kill. Can they understand? Maybe, if they understand, they’ll stop killing. Aster understands. These… are bad humans, but maybe they can understand. She looked at them hopefully.

Alice narrowed her eyes. “She admits it. She’s monster.”

“She said Silas isn’t dead. Is there a way to free Silas?” Milo asked, stepping in front of Alice.

Stella hesitated, then nodded. “Apologize for killing Momma. Promise not to kill any more monsters. If you do that, I’ll let him go.”

“Promise not to kill—she’s insane,” Alice growled, lifting her lips in disgust.

Milo turned and frowned at Alice. “Is she?” He gestured at Stella. “Like she said, this is her home. We barged in and killed people from her household. What would you do, if someone did that?”

“Kill them,” Alice replied.

“And look. She’s here, talking to us. Doesn’t that make her more reasonable than you?” Milo argued.

Alice scowled. She twisted her lips, then sighed. “Fine. But we can’t promise to not kill monsters. We’re adventurers. Killing monsters is job.”

“At least apologize for Momma,” Stella insisted. Her voice turned into a whine at the end, and tears welled up in her eyes. She rubbed her face furiously, wiping them away. Don’t cry. Don’t be weak. Strong. Strong.

Milo got on his knees. He set his staff down and prostrated himself to Stella. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I didn’t know I was helping to kill your mother.”

A strange feeling welled up in Stella’s chest. She rubbed it, confused. I’m angry, but happy, but sad, but frustrated. This isn’t enough. But what would be enough? Killing him? He apologized. Killing monsters is what adventurers do. I know that, Aster said so, everyone says so, but I still… I still hate it. I still hate this feeling.

I want him to feel it, but… I don’t want him to feel it. No one should hurt like this.

Alice scoffed. She looked at Stella. “Apologizing to monster?”

“We killed her mother. No matter what species, we should have compassion for that kind of loss,” Milo replied, shaking his head at her.

Twisting her lips, Alice looked at her blade, then at Stella. Her body suddenly tensed, and she vanished.

Stella slammed her hand down. The stone gave way beneath her, and she plunged into a pit. Five fire slimes fell from the ceiling, surrounding the place Stella had fallen into. She reached up behind her, and the stone closed in over her head.

A second later, metal clashed against the stone. Alice clicked her tongue.

“Alice!” Milo shouted.

“I’m not good person, like priest. I take what I want and I kill what I don’t,” Alice said, leaping back. She grabbed one knife with both hands and slammed it backward as she leaped, plunging it into one of the fire slimes. The slime’s thick, rubbery skin ruptured. Drawing the knife backward, she cut its top open. The fire surged, then burned hotter than ever before, flames devouring the fuel kept inside the fire slime’s body all at once. The slime died with a whomph, incinerated too quickly to scream.

“Bow to monster? You must be insane. I kill her and take back Silas,” Alice said.

“Alice! We had a chance to talk it out, and you—”

“You hire me to fight. I fight. What do you want?” Alice said, shaking her head.

Milo bared his teeth, backing up. “You face the consequences of what you’ve done. I’m out of magic. I can’t help.”

The boss slime’s body swelled up again. Milo turned and ran, hiding around a bend outside of the room. Alice lowered her stance, lifting her daggers to protect her face. The spikes fired off in all directions. One shot toward Alice, but she darted aside, ready for it this time. She ran toward the boss, lifting her daggers for a killing blow.

Deep below, hidden in the stone, Stella screamed. She punched the wall, then slapped it when that hurt too much, smacking it over and over until her palms were raw. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Humans aren’t like Aster. They’re bad, and all they want is to kill! Stupid. Stupid! I’m so stupid!

She pressed her forehead against the stone, closing her eyes, both palms flat against it. Momma, they’re bad. They’re all bad. Momma, come back. I need you, I need you, I can’t do this alone.

Familiar footsteps thumped on the ground. A sledgehammer thumped against stone, a heavy bag smacking down beside it. Aster took a deep breath. His eyes narrowed as he watched Alice battle the slimes.

“Stella, I’m late.”

“Late! You’re so late!” she shouted, smacking the wall. “Aster! You’re so late!”

He let out his breath. As if he knew where she watched him from, he looked up at the ceiling and smiled reassuringly. “I’m here now. I’ll take care of things from here.”

Stella frowned stubbornly, but a warm feeling welled up in her chest all the same, something she hadn’t felt since Momma’s death. She turned away, hiding her face. Aster’s here. I’m safe now.

Alice turned. She narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”

Aster lifted his hammer. He gave it an experimental spin and thumped it onto his shoulder, then turned, giving her a winning grin. “A little girl’s father.”