Chapter 23. Why I Devour My Kind with Drowsy Eyes (1)
Skeletons were always hunted and trampled, counted one by one as mere fragments of experience points. I was always just a skeleton, occupying the role of another. No one cared about the skeletons’ hearts or circumstances.
Clatter.
I shook my head, breaking free from my bitter reflections. I found large letters written like an announcement on one side of the cave wall. It would be difficult not to notice these words if someone had reached this point. They were written by a human.
[Beginner’s Playground]
[Do Not Break the Skull]
I suddenly felt frustrated at the intention behind the humans who wrote those sentences. If a skeleton's skull was broken, it could no longer rise. The phrase “Do Not Break the Skull” was a request to refrain from playing alone and to continue recycling so the next person could use it.
The skeletons in this dungeon were used as public property for human amusement.
I turned my gaze away from the words. Still far from reaching me, I watched the gatekeeper skeleton slowly clattering toward me.
His pace was slow, and he was quite short. I didn’t know how long he had been here. Anyway, he had been here since the first time I came. At the very least, he was older than me. The gatekeeper skeleton held a rusty sword in one hand. It was a piece of metal with cracks all over it and crumbling edges.
If I listened to it, the blade could probably tell a long tale of many years. But that was all. There was no use for such a rusted sword as a blade. I thought it was pitiable. But pity and sympathy felt arrogant. I should not feel such things.
Clatter!