Chapter 101: Slothful Sloth.

“Wow….”

After I got the [Purification] skill and Root was born, I thought the Curse of Sloth had weakened.

I never imagined it had actually gone on strike.

This time, the curse is the Curse of Sloth, which makes people lazy.

It’s often described as sleeping a lot, but it’s not just about sleep-failing to do what you’re supposed to do is also considered slothful.

Like playing games instead of studying for exams.

Or going on a blind date when you should be doing a group project.

Or offloading your own responsibilities onto someone else.

Even if you do start what you have to do, your focus drops and you keep looking for other things to do.

I was like that, too, until I spat out Root.

Being irresponsible can also be considered slothful.

Because it’s not doing what you’re supposed to do.

But in this world, not everything that happens is something an individual can be responsible for.

It could be an accident, or a problem that gradually builds up in places you can’t see.

If a fire broke out because too many things were plugged into a power strip and a whole factory burned down,

could a single person really be held responsible for that?

Of course not.

That’s why I have to think carefully about the consequences of what I do.

I have to recognize that a power strip can catch fire and take precautions, like using a better power strip.

But that’s a very exhausting and difficult thing to do.

Because you have to anticipate the future-something no one can know.

Things you don’t want to do but have no choice but to do.

That’s the perfect weakness for sloth to target.

The Curse of Sloth dulled my thinking so I couldn’t worry deeply about things.

Looking back now, there were a lot of risky situations.

If I had lied that the dead land wasn’t cursed and just tried to get a Grade A license,

or if I had refused to supply the <Glutton Slime (ocean sunfish)> in order to maximize my profits,

people’s anxiety about the dead and cursed land would have grown, and strikes would have broken out everywhere.

On top of that, back then, the existence of Mother-who was basically a giant monster-had been revealed.

There’s a good chance a force emerged trying to pin all the blame for the evil on me.

The truth doesn’t matter.

What they needed was to forcibly drag me to their country and solve the problem, even if it meant using force.

Of course, I couldn’t let myself be dragged away, so I would have resisted with everything I had.

A war might have broken out between those who opposed me and those who supported me.

I’m not exaggerating.

If I had the ability to solve the problem of the cursed land but didn’t do it for my own benefit, it would be essentially the same as occupying part of each country’s territory.

Territorial disputes are always the root of war.

Acting without thinking about the consequences of my actions.

Trying to shove all my responsibilities onto others.

Until I spat out Root.

If you think about it, the curses of Distrust and Jealousy really did a number on me.

According to Sloth’s story, Jealousy acted like jealousy and tore off someone else’s flesh to strengthen its own power.

If Jealousy hadn’t devoured Sloth, the status window wouldn’t have been able to give me the [Purification] skill.

Because the curse and the status window are definitely competing over which skill I get.

They must have seized the chance when Sloth weakened to give me [Purification].

That [Purification] skill reduced the negative effects the curse had on me.

And when I spat out Root with [Special Divide], the scales tipped completely.

When you use [Special Divide] and your level resets, the power of the curse weakens.

Normally, the curse would have gotten even nastier to fill the gap and kept tormenting me,

but the Curse of Sloth, torn apart by Jealousy and burned by [Purification], must have decided it had little chance of winning in this state.

Still, come on.

Passing its power to another curse?

Even if it’s Sloth, don’t dump your job on another curse.

What are you, a mid-boss in a video game?

Are you that kind of mid-boss who’s weirdly weak and tells the protagonist, “The preparations are already complete,” and then summons the real boss?

What’s even more annoying is that I don’t know which curse will get stronger and appear next.

It said it gave its power to a curse that’ll appear later, but not exactly which one.

My guess is there are three curses left.

Strictly speaking, it could be different, but for convenience, let’s say Arrogance, Wrath, and Lust are left.

Any one of them getting stronger would be a headache.

Arrogance could hit me hard, like with Gluttony, because of my personality.

I don’t have a particularly hot temper, but as with the curses of Distrust and Jealousy, I could get hit in an unexpected way and burn up even more intensely.

Lust is dangerous in a different way.

I don’t know which curse will get powered up, and I don’t know when the powered-up curse will appear.

If I knew when I’d get hit, I could at least grit my teeth and prepare, but I can’t even do that.

Still, thinking about it, maybe it’s not so bad that Sloth has weakened.

If Sloth had been pointlessly diligent and refused to give up, attacking me relentlessly,

I would have forgotten what I needed to do.

Lost my purpose.

Unable to focus on anything.

I might have ended up wandering the world.

I might have convinced myself it was enough to leave everything to my kids and Hans, and just gone off on my own path.

Maybe I would have changed the genre of my life to gastronomy, sneaking around the world to enjoy all sorts of food.

Or maybe I’d have suddenly jumped into a dungeon and become a Hunter, fighting monsters.

I might have abandoned all responsibility and disappeared.

Because I have no conviction that what I’m doing is right.

“There’s no way I could be convinced.”

It’s a fear that anyone pioneering a new field can’t help but experience.

It’s like drifting on the open sea-how could you not be afraid?

I have no conviction that I’m on the right path.

And not just me-everyone around me might never reach anywhere and just die in despair.

But I still have to move forward.

“Status window.”

[Trait: Slime☆☆☆☆ Lv. 1

+Courage +Temperance +Faith +Diligence

Skills:

Decompose+ Lv. 1.

Absorb+ Lv. 1.

Analyze+ Lv. 1.

Divide Lv. 1.

Control+ Lv. 1.

Transform Lv. 1.

Store+ Lv. 1.

Convert+ Lv. 1.

Multiply Lv. 1.

Accelerate+ Lv. 1.

Link Lv. 1.

Harden+ Lv. 1.

Purification Lv. 1.

Healing☆ Lv. 1.

Diligence.

It’s not about just working without distractions!

Do your best in what you’re doing now.

If you’re playing a game, focus on the game.

If you’re studying, focus on studying.

If you’re working, focus on work.

Concentrate and give your all to it.

There is hesitation.

There is anxiety.

Even so, look at the sun, moon, stars, waves, and wind rising in the sky.

Gain courage by seeing the hints that guide me forward.

Believe that there is hope at the end and do your best to move forward.

That’s what human life is.

With the [Analyze+] skill, I saw the <Curse Fragment> fallen on the floor.

<Curse Fragment>

-A part of a curse forged from deep resentment.

■■ Most dear ■■ Swamp of Despair ■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■ meet the end at the hands of ■■■!

Most dear Swamp of Despair meet the end at the hands of.

Seven words.

Why were only 7 out of 14 words peeled away?

Wasn’t it supposed to be two at a time?

“Halfway? Seriously?”

I didn’t think it would affect things that far.

Apart from the suffering, if I had to pick the most annoying curse, it would be the Curse of Sloth at number one.

I raised the flame of [Purification] on my palm.

With that hand, I grabbed the <Curse Fragment>.

“Burn and disappear.”

The flame of [Purification] mercilessly burns the <Curse Fragment>.

It’s nice to be able to burn it directly.

When the <Curse Fragment> was almost completely gone.

The black smoke rising from it obscured my vision.

“A parting shot!”

Everything around is dark.

I felt like someone was calling me.

Something was blocking me.

There was a gap, but it was too narrow, so I left most of my body behind and passed through with only a part.

Drawn by the call, I descended, but suddenly a much more appetizing smell came, so I turned in that direction.

And….

The illusion disappeared.

Immediately, I swept through my body with the flame of [Purification].

There was no particular reaction.

“What was that?”

I saw a strange illusion.

It was too blurry to know exactly what I saw.

However, I think I saw a skull.

Not a skull that was dead and unmoving, but a moving skull.

I think I saw a skull monster.

I immediately contacted Hans.

“Please contact the sanctuary and ask them to check how much of the curse I created is left.”

-Alright. I’ll check right away.

A little later, I received a message that those curses had been completely cleared.

Am I too late?

Just as the Curse of Sloth showed me an illusion, I thought the curses I had previously expelled might show something too.

“Please tell them I want to visit the sanctuary.”

Still, I should go and check.

Even if it’s not visible normally, something might be visible to my eyes.

-I’ll relay that right away.

I headed to the sanctuary immediately.

Curses grow stronger in the dark of night.

Since you never know when a new curse might be delivered, the sanctuary doesn’t close its doors at night.

The priest, who had been contacted by Hans, welcomed me with a smiling face, and I was able to enter without difficulty.

“Was it kept here?”

“Yes. It’s completely gone now.”

Unfortunately, no trace of the curse remained.

“It’s thanks to the <Aroma Slime> that Alchemy Slime-nim created. Thanks to it, we can deal with curses much faster and more reliably.”

The priest said while looking at the candles stationed around.

They are all <Aroma Slime> that I imbued with the flame of [Purification].

The fact that the curse disappeared so quickly means it’s ultimately my own doing.

Can’t be helped.

Should I at least take that <Aroma Slime> with me?

Something might be contained in it.

“You know I’m making <Aroma Slime (Sacred Wood)> as a substitute for <Sacred Wood>, right?”

“Of course. The majesty of the <Altar of the Sacred Flame> I saw during Easter was truly remarkable.”

They burned the <Aroma Slime (Sacred Wood)> I sent extravagantly. They burned a month’s worth of content in a single day.

“It was a moving sight, as if I was being purified even through the screen.”

That’s an exaggeration.

“While making those, I also came up with a way to improve <Aroma Slime>. I decided there’s no need to imbue <Aroma Slime> with such strong purification ability, so I won’t sell them. But it’s different here, right?”

“Could it be?”

Realizing what I was about to say, the priest’s voice rose.

“Yes. I’ll specially make <Aroma Slime (For Purification)> for use in the sanctuary.”

“Thank you so much. I’ll inform the purchasing department right away.”

“No. Since I’ve been indebted to you, let’s do it by replacing the current items.”

“That can’t be….”

I contacted Hans to ask for his opinion.

“Our expert says it’s fine. So, let’s proceed right away.”

Pretending to take out <Aroma Slime (For Purification)> from the <space expansion bags>, I made new ones. I repeated the process of replacing the <Aroma Slime> with <Aroma Slime (For Purification)>.

“All done.”

“Thank you so much. Alchemy Slime-nim, you will certainly be blessed.”

“Hahaha. I’d be grateful if that happens.”

A blessing, huh.

Who would grant it?

The Status window?

I left the sanctuary and went to a quiet place near Mother.

There, I took out the <Aroma Slime> I had collected from the <space expansion bags>.

“I hope something remains.”

I swallowed them all.

“There is something.”

There was a bit of information left, but it was in a state of burnt ashes, so I couldn’t obtain anything significant.

It was like slightly fixing a CCTV screen that was completely unrecognizable.

What I saw was definitely a skull monster.

Not just any common skull monster, but a Lich, a master of black magic.

Since it was a skull I had never seen before, it doesn’t seem like it targeted me specifically to cast a curse.

<Curse Fragment>

-A part of a curse forged with deep resentment.

■■ Most dear ■■ Swamp of Despair ■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■ will meet their end by hand ■■■!

Was there an accident while trying to curse someone?

Based on the blurry glimpse I had and everything I’ve experienced so far, this is a curse of enormous scale.

Even a small mistake could have easily led to an accident.

Was it just a high chance of an accident?

When undertaking something big, information inevitably leaks out.

If a large-scale curse ritual is performed, naturally, people who want to interfere will come swarming in.

This is why you shouldn’t act irresponsibly when starting something.

An unrelated person ends up getting hurt.

Anyway, this Lich.

It’s probably dead, right?

If it’s still alive….

I shook my head side to side to brush off the thought.

Let’s put off thinking about the curse for later.

Rather than racking my brain over it now, it’s better to think about it after purifying the next curse and basing it on the information I get from there.

The next <Curse Fragment> won’t be a half-baked curse like this one, so it should hold more information.

When laziness passes its power to another curse, it might have passed information along with it.

Let’s just assume the Lich is dead.

Today is the grand opening of Slime Land.

I can’t ruin this day, which so many people are looking forward to, by getting distracted.

There’s a lot to do today.

Besides welcoming ordinary guests, I also have to greet VIPs from various countries.

It’s only polite to properly welcome guests who have come from far away.

It’s right to live while maintaining basic courtesy.

Most of them I’ll just exchange greetings with and part ways.

If someone insists on talking to me, I’ll handle them with one of the PengRhyme dolls, just like I did at the company dinner yesterday.

VIPs may be important to higher-ups or significant people, but they’re not that important to me.

Except for one person.

Ash is different.

To others, he might be a VIP, but to me, he’s a friend.

Meeting a friend in person for the first time and greeting them with a clone.

That’s just too much.