Slime Sweets and Dungeon Treats - A Cozy LitRPG

"Bawk, bawk, baaaawwwkkkk."

I squeezed my eyes closed, not at all ready to wake up yet. The slimes were like soft, squishy pillows that were perfectly formed to my body and I just wanted to ignore the day and stay inside with them. Even if it was cramped beyond belief in this tiny shack.

"Bawwwkkkkk."

Was that a chicken outside? No, please tell me the crispy cluckers hadn't followed me all the way here for revenge. Dave had said this cafe was a safe zone, so maybe if I ignored the chicken, it would go away?

A soft tapping at the door made my eyes fly open. Was the chicken knocking? No, it was probably just pecking for food. Or to drive me crazy until I opened the door.

The inside of the shack was dark since it had no windows, so I wasn't even sure if I could find the door. I shifted, my legs screaming at me to stretch them out, but there was no room between me and the slimes. This place just wasn't built for three.

The chicken's pecking got more insistent, vibrating through the walls.

"Okay, okay," I mumbled. "Don't burn the cafe down."

I fumbled my way to the door, squinting as bright daylight seared my eyes. Did it ever get dark in this dungeon? I blinked until my eyes adjusted, then stared at the single tiny chicken outside my cafe. Its feathers puffed up as I studied it, but before I could do anything, Jellybean hopped out of the cafe, mouth wide open.

"Don't you dare!" I shouted, diving for the chicken before Jellybean could start the chicken wars all over again.

The tiny bird trembled in my hands as Jellybean tilted his body, giving me a sad look like I'd just taken his favorite toy away.

"Baby chickens are friends, not food," I said forcefully as I pet the bird to calm it down. Its feathers were soft and fluffy. "It's okay, little one. Nobody will hurt you here."

But my gaze kept wandering to the jungle floor outside, waiting for the rest of the crispy cluckers to show up and terrorize us. Nothing moved though, not even a walking mushroom. I let out a shaky breath.

"Did you come here by yourself?"

The chicken obviously didn't answer, but since I couldn't hear any angry clucking or the pounding of giant chicken feet, I had a feeling it was alone. I opened my item box to grab a few strawberries, putting them on the ground as I set the chicken down.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, glaring at Jellybean to behave. "I don't have any jam right now, but the strawberries are still good."

The chicken pecked at them slowly, eyes on the slime who was keeping his distance. I walked over and patted him on the head.

"That's a good boy, Jellybean. I'll make you a treat later."

Jellybean chittered, leaning into my hand. I wasn't sure why the chicken was here, but as long as we could all get along, it should be okay. For now, I had bigger things on my mind. Like turning this cafe into something actually usable.

"Hey system, is there a way to make this cafe...better?" I asked, hoping this was also like a game and there would be upgrades I could make. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but it's kind of small."

I waited for a message box to pop up, but nothing appeared. Huh. Maybe it didn't respond to something as open-ended as that? I hadn't actually initiated a conversation with it before, not for anything besides skills at least.

"Mr. System?" I asked, tilting my head as I waited for a response, but after a minute or so, I decided to get creative. "Hello? Big Blue? Sweet Potato? My darling dungeon, are you even listening?"

Maybe that was going too far, but a message box did appear.

[Your darling what? And how are my messages like potatoes?]

[Nevermind. You have more important things to think about.]

[New Quest: Garden Cleanup. The garden out back is such a mess that it will keep you busy for days, so busy you won't have time for strange nicknames.]

I laughed, coughing quickly to try and cover it up. Those message boxes weren't the normal solid blue I'd become accustomed to. They had a faint pink hue around the edges, almost like the system was blushing.

Oh that was far too adorable and made me want to tease it a little more, but I resisted the urge. It was a bit too enigmatic for me to mess with and I didn't want to end up with some impossible quest as a result. Cleaning the garden up seemed fair enough, especially since a garden meant ingredients for my food.

"Sorry, I was just trying to get your attention," I said, putting out a few more strawberries for the chicken. "So about the cafe upgrades?"

[You already chose an upgrade path for this cafe as you were falling asleep. Try not to hit random buttons next time.]

My eyes widened. "Wait, what path did I choose?"

[You've chosen the natural cafe route, full of warm wood and soft lighting. Your first quest was already assigned. You must gather 50 wood, 10 clay, and 10 stone.]

Oh, well that didn't sound so bad. Maybe I could find some of those while I was cleaning up the garden. I wished I knew what other options I could have chosen for the cafe, but it felt a little too late to ask that. I liked the natural look, plus, the system had been very kind to me so far and I didn't want to seem ungrateful.

"Thank you," I said.

[You are welcome.]

[And....you can call me Sweet Potato if you want to, but I don't understand why you would.]

That message had the same pretty shade of pink around it as the first one. I really hadn't expected the system to pick a name, especially not the most ridiculous one, but it made me smile. The system was definitely a sweet potato, all warm and comforting.

Unfortunately, Jellybean and the chicken chose that moment to start fighting. As the slime lunged, the chicken tried to breathe fire, but all that came out was an adorable little puff of smoke. I sighed.

"I need to go clean up the garden," I said, staring both of them down. "Can I trust you not to hurt each other?"

The chicken bawked loudly, but I wasn't sure if that was an agreement or not.

"Hey Boss?" I called out, wincing as the sleepy boss slime blinked at me from inside the cafe. "Mind guarding the chicken for me?"

I'd have to give the chicken a name if it decided to stay here long-term, but for now I'd just keep it safe and out of Jellybean's reach. The silly slime probably just wanted to play, but that wasn't the kind of play a chicken appreciated.

The boss shifted, allowing the chicken to march into the cafe like it owned the place. They settled down together and went to sleep. My heart warmed at the sight, loving how cozy they looked together. This was exactly what I wanted. A place for different people, or monsters, to feel safe and taken care of.

"Okay, Jellybean, let's head to the garden."

Together we made our way to the back of the shack where the garden was supposed to be.

The system wasn't kidding when it said this garden was a mess. The largest weeds I'd ever seen towered over me, as if daring me to try and pull them out. I had a feeling they'd be tricky to get rid of for good, especially since I knew next to nothing about gardening. I could barely identify the rest of the plants to tell what was a weed and what wasn't.

Some were easy, like the tomatoes bursting through their rusty cages to spill out over the rest of the garden or the oregano that had swept across the ground like grass, filling the air with an earthy peppery scent. The other plants were a bit more difficult to identify since they were all fighting for dominance over the large patch of land.

I smelled mint and basil coming from somewhere, but couldn't actually see the herbs through the chaos. The garden took up the entire backyard of the cafe, but it was so overgrown that I'd have to trim it back as I went if I ever wanted to see what was in the middle. Walking through it as is wasn't a good idea unless I wanted to risk getting covered in scratches.

A happy little glomp noise drew my attention to the tomatoes again as Jellybean gobbled a few of them up before moving on to some kind of leafy plant. The little slime bounced from plant to plant, devouring all the useful parts of the garden.

"Hey, leave some for me," I said, trying to reach the slime, but he just rolled away like the stealthy little creature he was.

I shook my head, smiling as I noticed an old garden spade stuck in the dirt. I struggled to pull it out, but the soil was hard, compacted over the years of neglect. This was going to be a lot more work than I thought.

As I followed the slime through the garden, I found pruning shears and a shovel too. It was like the tools' owner had just dropped them mid-use and never came back. I tried to remember what Dave had said about the cafe, but nothing specific came to mind besides it was abandoned.

It was all very, very strange. Who would put in all the time to plant this garden and then just disappear? Based on the plants, they seemed to focus more on savory foods than sweet ones like I preferred, so I'd have to change things up a bit now that this garden was mine.

Planting different kinds of fruit would be the most useful. I imagined beautiful red raspberries, sweet figs, delicious apples, and every other fruit this dungeon might have. Mmmm...my mouth was almost watering just thinking about it. Fruit was the perfect thing for baked goods.

As I mused on that, I started trimming the plants back, not really sure what I was doing. I couldn't possibly make it worse though, right? I harvested some of the rosemary, mint, and basil into my inventory, wondering if there would be ginger or pumpkins somewhere in this garden. A nice pumpkin pie sounded really good right now.

I wiped the sweat off my brow, leaving what I assumed was a dirty streak across my forehead. Gardening gloves would be nice and a new outfit too because this baker's uniform was not ideal for gardening. I'd have to make a list and find the safe zone eventually.

I bent down to trim what I thought was a weed when it shivered. The shiver moved through the plant and into the ground, rumbling through the garden. I dropped the shears, falling on my backside in horror as the plants shifted, moving as if they had a will of their own.

Oh please tell me this garden wasn't full of living monster plants and I'd stolen their harvest. Or worse, pruned the wrong thing and upset them!

"Jellybean" I called out, backing out of the garden. "This place isn't safe, hurry up and get out."

A great mass of plants rose up in the middle of the garden, dirt tumbling off the round monster in waves as it shook itself. My eyes widened as it got bigger and bigger, but even more so as Jellybean bounced toward the thing instead of away from it!

"No!" I shouted, racing after the little slime. I scooped him into my arms, freezing as the monster stared at me with eyes that looked oddly familiar.

Its body was dark brown, blending in with the dirt well if not for the translucent shimmer that I'd come to associate with slimes. That monster was actually a slime!

Moss covered its head with plants peeking out of it like it was a living garden. It moved slowly, as if just waking up from a long nap.

I swallowed hard, holding Jellybean tight. "Hello, sorry if we disturbed you."

The great dirt slime groaned, sounding like the earth was opening up beneath us, but it didn't do anything else. Just stared. Well, glared was more accurate. I took everything I'd harvested out of my inventory, laying it on the ground carefully.

"Here, you can have it all back," I said. "I promise not to touch your plants again."

Neither of us moved for what felt like ages until something at the edge of my vision caught my eye. Tiny dirt slimes bounced to the food I'd set out, gobbling it up just like Jellybean had. They each had one little plant growing out of their heads, like miniature versions of the great dirt slime in front of me. One of them had a broken plant, clipped off savagely.

By me.

That was the plant I'd been trimming right before the dirt slime sprouted out of the ground. My chest ached at the sight of the sad little dirt slime. I kneeled down, offering it a tomato.

"I'm so sorry," I said softly. "I shouldn't have been trimming anything without knowing what I was doing. I never meant to hurt you."

The little dirt slime bounced back and forth, then hopped closer. I held my hand out in the air between us, letting it decide if it wanted me to pet it or not. After a few moments, the little dirt slime brushed against my hand, nuzzling into my embrace. I pet it carefully, avoiding damaging the plant growing out of it any further.

The big dirt slime groaned again, then sank back into the dirt a bit until it was more on eye level with us. The little slimes tried to follow suit, but the ground was too hard for them to get into. They kept jumping at it, but weren't strong enough to burrow like the big one.

I grabbed the garden spade and broke a little patch of dirt up. The slime hopped in, wiggling around like that was the perfect spot. Awww these slimes were seriously the most adorable things I'd ever seen! Maybe they wanted water too?

"Hold on a sec," I said as I went over to grab the watering can I'd seen earlier.

When I poured a few drops on the little dirt slime, it trilled with excitement, closing its eyes like the feeling was heavenly. I grinned and poured more, letting a steady rain of water cover the dirt slime and the soil around it. Another little dirt slime hopped over, burrowing into the dirt beside us, nudging closer so it could get rained on too.

I laughed and poured water on as many of them as I could find, watching them wiggle and bounce with joy. Sadly the watering can was empty by the time I got to the big dirt slime, but it just nodded like it approved of my actions while Jellybean bounced beside it, chittering away like they were having a conversation.

This dungeon was full of so many things I didn't understand. I couldn't act rashly, not even when it came to gardening. This was the dirt slimes’ home and I had to respect that. I could dig up another patch of land for my own little garden or even bring some pots inside for herbs. I'd figure it out.

But the system had told me to clean up this garden. So I had to keep going if I wanted to complete that quest...

Jellybean bounced at me until I walked back to the big slime. It blinked at me, then chirped as a carrot popped out of its head, flying into the air and landing in my hands.

My eyes widened. "Is this for me? Are you sure?"

The gentle giant nodded.

"Thank you," I said, holding the carrot close. This was something dear to the slime, so it meant a lot that it had shared it with me. "Does this mean you want me to keep working in the garden? As long as I break up the dirt and water everything really well for the little ones?"

The great dirt slime hopped out of the ground, nudging me firmly enough that I almost fell over again. I glanced at Jellybean, who hopped excitedly.

"Does that mean we have a deal?" I asked, offering my hand to the dirt slime. "If I'm more careful and take care of the garden and the slimes, then you'll let me use some of the food you're growing here?"

The slime brushed against my palm as all the little slimes circled around us, bouncing and hopping as if they'd never had so much fun in their lives.

I grinned, gazing out at the garden full of slimes and possibilities. This dungeon was proving to be a wonderful adventure.