Drip—
As a drop of slime splattered onto the ground, Mohg looked up with a cold sweat at the multitude of slugs slowly writhing along the top of the pipe.
The sheer number was mind-boggling—it was an endless, undulating sea of gastropods that stretched as far as the eye could see!
Morgott also swallowed hard, cautiously scanning their surroundings. He seemed to be searching for a path where the numbers were thinner so they could squeeze through.
The aggressiveness of these slugs wasn't particularly high, but their sheer volume was overwhelming. Besides... even if there were only a few, Mohg had no desire to fight these things. It wasn't a question of whether they could win.
Fighting these things was a literal "sanity check" mental attack!
"Let's be careful... find a place to step and move out bit by bit. Don't provoke them..." Morgott leaned close to Mohg's ear and whispered.
Mohg nodded silently. Seeing a small gap, he took his first step, followed quickly by a second.
Morgott followed immediately, stepping into the space Mohg vacated. In this manner, the two slowly put distance between themselves and the slug nest.
"Phew... we're finally out..." Mohg let out a long sigh of relief the moment they cleared the area. He leaned against the pipe wall, wiping some of the slime from his body onto the cold stone.
"Say... do you think those things are edible?"
At Mohg's question, Morgott's pupils dilated in shock. He looked at Mohg with an expression of pure horror, as if to say: A human can't—or at least shouldn't—do that.
Seeing Morgott's reaction, Mohg scratched his cheek awkwardly. He couldn't really be blamed; in his previous life, people actually ate snails. He had just happened to remember that fact...
"Ahem... I believe one should be brave enough to try new things. I shall entrust this heavy responsibility to you, my dear aniki!"
Although Morgott didn't understand the strange title Mohg used at the end, he understood the rest perfectly well. He's asking me to test for poison, isn't he?!
"Impossible. I will not eat such a thing."
"But what if there's nothing else to eat later?" Mohg looked at Morgott and spoke with dead seriousness.
Faced with this question, Morgott fell into a troubled silence.
In the current state of the sewers, there shouldn't be any Royal Revenants or Wraiths yet... right?
Morgott figured there shouldn't be. After all, the Liurnian Wars hadn't broken out yet, and even the War against the Giants might not have started. At the very least, during his time above ground, he had never heard the name "Messmer"...
So, the ecology of the sewers should be relatively "normal." Aside from these slugs, the only other "edible" things would be crabs and lobsters.
"Then why don't you eat it?" Morgott asked, staring deeply into Mohg's soul.
"You wouldn't want to see your dear younger brother suffer from eating this and—"
"And you wouldn't want to see your dear older brother suffer from eating this and—"
"Alright, stop. We'll both try it, okay?" Mohg raised his hands in exasperation as he saw Morgott mimicking his tone.
"Fine."
"You've changed. You wouldn't have talked back like that before."
"And who do you think I learned it from?"
"...It must have been Big Brother!" Mohg said solemnly, looking up at the "sky"—the top of the pipe—at a forty-five-degree angle.
"A-choo!"
Up in the palace above the two brothers, Godwyn, who was busy handling government affairs, suddenly let out a massive sneeze. He rubbed his head in confusion.
A cold? Impossible. How could a demigod catch a cold?
Does that mean... someone is thinking of me?
At that thought, Godwyn's mind immediately went to his two brothers still trapped in the sewers. His mood darkened instantly.
"I should find some time to go down and check on them..."
"Are you sure you want to catch it?" Morgott asked, unable to help himself as he looked at the slug right in front of them.
Mohg's face was twisted in conflict. Finally, he gritted his teeth and nodded. There was no turning back now. If they said they were catching it, they were catching it!
Actually, you just want to know what it tastes like yourself, don't you?!
"Catch it!"
The two moved simultaneously. Like two hunting leopards, they lunged forward and grabbed... a slug.
"Eww!"
The moment his hands touched the slug, Mohg looked completely repulsed. Morgott remained expressionless, but as his closest kin, Mohg knew this was the look Morgott gave when he was beyond speechless.
Without a second's hesitation, Mohg slapped the slug he had caught onto Morgott's back.
"Huh?!"
Lethal intent!
Having done the deed, Mohg found his direction and bolted. Morgott chased after him with everything he had.
After a while, the two were exhausted and leaned against the pipe wall to rest.
"Huff... huff... alright... how do you plan to eat it?" Morgott asked, tossing the slug from his back to the side. He'd carried it for so long he'd almost gotten used to the weight.
"Roast... roast it... at least... the slime will dry up..."
Morgott nodded with great difficulty. Looking around, he couldn't help but ask: "Where... where are we now?"
Mohg froze, then began to observe their surroundings. The space here was significantly larger. There were even wooden planks on the ground, and the faint outline of an iron gate could be seen in the distance.
Crap! Lost again!
"It seems we've unknowingly... walked out of that small pipe..."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing..."
Morgott nodded, then knelt down to observe the slug they had caught. It wasn't as large as the others; it was likely a juvenile.
"Speaking of roasting... how do you plan to start a fire?"
"Aren't there plenty of wooden planks right here?" Mohg gestured toward the scattered wood on the ground.
Morgott picked up a plank and examined it. To his surprise, the wood was actually quite dry.
"Strange... could it be that many of the pipes in these sewers have been abandoned and are no longer in use?"
"Perhaps some places weren't meant to be sewers in the first place..." Mohg said as he began piling up the wooden planks.
"Are you saying this is actually a giant prison?" Morgott caught the hidden meaning in Mohg's words.
"Isn't it?"
"...It is indeed. A giant prison for the sinners of the Golden Dynasty."
Seeing Morgott standing there looking sentimental again, Mohg shook his head and began trying to spark a flame by hand.
Whoosh!
"Hurry up, stop daydreaming and help me add more wood!"
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My : https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Elden Ring: As the Consort, I Reject Miquella (51 Chapters – Ongoing)
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