"So how do we open the fucking thing…" Shun muttered, staring at the lock.
Dumdum answered by walking up and biting the lock.
CRANK.
Shun blinked. "…Are you serious right now?"
Dumdum's neck muscles tensed.
Slowly…
Very slowly.
They stretched, bulging out, getting thicker, veins popping like the bastard was about to snap it in half.
His jaw clenched harder.
Metal screamed.
"Dayuuum…" Shun leaned closer. "Wait—wait—are you actually gonna break it?"
The lock groaned, the floor vibrated a bit.
Then—
Nothing…
The lock held.
Dumdum stopped, Let go…
Tilted his head, looked at the box, then at Shun.
Shun sighed.
Shun crouched and spotted something under the box.
His eyes narrowed.
"…No fucking way."
He reached under and pulled it out.
A key.
Freaking. Key.
Shun stared at it for a full second, then stood up and smacked it against Dumdum's thick skull.
CLACK.
"Keeeey," Shun said slowly, holding it up like he was explaining some serious shit to a toddler.
Dumdum blinked.
Tilted his head.
Looked at the key.
Then his eyes lit up like he finally understood something important.
He opened his mouth wide.
Way too wide.
"Wait—don't—"
CHOMP.
The key disappeared.
Shun froze.
"…You motherfucking—!"
Dumdum chewed once…
Swallowed.
Then looked proud of himself.
Shun froze.
"…You didn't."
Slowly, very slowly, he turned.
Then lunged.
Shun wrapped his arms around Dumdum's thick, muscular neck and started shaking him violently.
"Give it back you stupid shit—."
He squeezed harder, boots scraping on the floor.
"GIVEEE IT BAAACK!"
Dumdum made a weird choking-snort sound.
His legs shuffled. His tail still wagged for some reason.
After shaking Dumdum like his life depended on it, the horse finally gave up.
Dumdum gagged.
Hrk—ptoo.
The key spat out and clattered onto the floor, completely drenched in Dumdum's saliva.
"…Err." Shun stared at it for a second too long, then sighed and picked it up anyway. "I fucking hate you."
He wiped it on his sleeve—half-hearted, pointless—and slid it into the lock. A heavy click echoed inside the massive box. Shun pushed the lid open.
Light spilled out.
A sharp glint caught his eyes and forced him to squint.
A sword lay inside.
Plain… Almost insultingly so.
No engravings, no gem in the hilt, no dramatic curve or glow.
If someone told him this came from a random blacksmith on the roadside, he'd believe it.
Shun lifted it slowly.
The weight settled perfectly in his hand, too perfect. Balanced to the point it felt wrong—the blade was adjusting itself to him instead of the other way around.
And then it hit him.
"…No way."
The one displayed at the very top of their ancestral hall.
The thing everyone stared at but no one was allowed to touch.
The one they said represented the Drosswyn name itself.
"That sword," Shun muttered. "Why the hell is this here?"
Shun leaned back in and rummaged through the box.
A pouch.
He opened it.
Coins clinked.
Shun counted. Once. Twice.
"…One hundred Klip."
His eyes twitched. "T-this is it?" His voice cracked, then spiked. "Are you fucking kidding me? A hundred?" he snapped. "You could've at least put a thousand in here. A thousand wouldn't even hurt."
He rubbed his face, pacing in a tight circle.
Dumdum leaned in, nose twitching, about to chomp the pouch.
WHAM.
"Oii—don't even think about it," Shun barked, smacking his skull again.
Dumdum sulked.
Shun went back to the box, digging deeper.
"…What else?"
His hand closed around metal.
A hammer—a blacksmith's hammer, and a travel bag.
Shun looked back into the box one last time.
Nothing.
He closed it slowly.
"…That's fucking it."
He stood there, quiet for a second.
Then sighed.
"Well," he muttered, gripping the hammer, "guess this is enough to start shit."
Shun stuffed everything into the travel bag—shoved the hammer, the coins, and strapped the sword to his waist.
"…Alright," he muttered. "Better keep my promise..."
He moved through the estate, pulled out the explosives he'd built as a kid.
He shoved them into cracks, under fallen beams, beside cold forges that hadn't sung in years… He planted them across the estate and nearby areas.
Time bled away while he worked… When he was done, he walked far—far enough that the blast wouldn't touch him.
Shun stopped. Turned back.
Hand rested on the sword at his waist.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "That'll do."
Shun looked at Dumdum and gave a slow nod.
No words. Didn't need any.
Dumdum grinned—well, as much as a wall-eyed horse could—then snapped his jaws shut hard.
SNAP.
His teeth clamped shut so fast it sparked. A sharp crack of light flashed, jumped to the thin flammable line Shun laid out earlier.
Three.
Two—
One—
BOOOOOOM!
The ground jumped.
The air punched his chest.
Multiple explosions chained together, tearing through the estate and the surrounding land. The remaining walls collapsed.
Fire and dust swallowed everything that once screamed Drosswyn Barony.
And suddenly—
Blue panels snapped open in front of his face.
[Slime defeated +1 EXP]
Again.
And again.
And again—
They stacked so fast his vision blurred.
[Slime defeated +1 EXP]
[Slime defeated +1 EXP]
[Slime defeated +1 EXP]
[Slime defeated +1 EXP]
"…Huh?"
Then—
[Level Up]
Shun froze.
"…Da fuck?" he muttered.