I was Reincarnated as an Incompetent Leader with Zero Popularity who met his downfall early on. Instead of banishing the hidden cheat Protagonist, I decided to embrace him, and somehow, I ended up being treated like a Hero instead. - Chapter 28

By the time I arrived on the scene, about ten people were already standing frozen in front of the giant slime.

The translucent monster sitting in the depths of the forest wasn’t as enormous as I had imagined.
Even so, it was still large enough to easily swallow an adult man whole.

Inside the slime’s belly was a young boy, probably around the age where he’d just be starting school. It was Thomas’s son.

The boy’s dark brown hair resembled his father’s, but his pale skin and delicate features must have come from his mother.
He clutched a wooden stick tightly in his small hands—a pitiful weapon against a slime.

The scene was like watching a toddler flounder helplessly after being thrown into an adult-sized pool. The boy’s struggle was nothing short of tragic.

“Alva!”

A large man in the group called out my name. It was Thomas, the deputy leader of the vigilante corps.

With his son trapped before him, his expression had grown even darker and harsher than it had been earlier.
The other men around him, presumably his comrades, glared at me with open hostility—not out of tension over the rescue mission, but out of unmasked contempt.

“Thomas, are you seriously relying on this scumbag?”

“What’s this guy supposed to do against a slime? Swords don’t work on it, you know.”

“A mutt who’s only good at swinging his sword or his hips has no place here.”

“Yeah, and don’t forget—he’s also the guy who—”

“Shut up!”

Thomas cut them off with a loud yell, silencing the jeering men.

I did my best to keep a calm expression.

Alva Grayblood wasn’t exactly beloved by the townspeople—especially the men.
I had a reputation for chasing after beautiful women, regardless of whether they were in relationships, and leaving destruction in my wake.

And Thomas? He was the husband of one of those women I’d been involved with years ago.

He’d been madly in love with his wife, so when he found out about us, he flew into a rage.
His wife claimed I had forced her into the affair, turning me into more than just an adulterer—I became the villainous rapist he sought to kill.

In truth, it had been his wife who’d taken advantage of his absence during his adventuring trips. She’d pawned off her son on her family and spent her nights prowling taverns for men. I’d fallen right into her trap.

But thanks to my notorious reputation as a womanizer, no one in town believed my side of the story.

As for his wife, she ended up cheating again a few weeks later, only to drunkenly die after being hit by a carriage alongside her new lover.

Thomas had stopped trying to kill me after that, but my reputation in town never recovered.

Remembering all of this during my earlier conversation with Thomas at the hideout had left me in a foul mood.
And seeing the men gathered here, it wasn’t hard to predict this would devolve into a shouting match at my expense.

The actions I was about to take would no doubt invite even harsher ridicule.
Despite mentally preparing for this back in my room, it was still exhausting to deal with.

As much as I brought this on myself, Alva Grayblood really is too hated, isn’t he?

“Shut your mouths!” Thomas barked. “If it means saving Marco, I’d kiss the devil’s ass if I had to!”

“Yeah, but Thomas, seriously. How is this swordsman supposed to save your boy?”

While the old men continued their pointless bickering, I pointed at the giant slime and spoke up.

“You know, while you old geezers are having your little lover’s spat, that kid is getting weaker by the second.”

There was no time to waste arguing. I turned to the giant man, the father of the boy trapped inside, and asked directly.

“And Thomas, how is it possible that your kid is trapped inside a slime and you haven’t even secured a breathing hole for him?”

Slimes don’t harm their prey by attacking them. Instead, they trap them inside their bodies, cutting off air supply and draining their body heat until they die.

There’s even a theory that slimes derive pleasure from the slow, suffocating deaths of their victims.

However, that also means that if you can ensure access to air, you can buy some time.

I had assumed Thomas had taken care of this, which is why he was frantically searching for a mage.
But when I arrived, I realized that they hadn’t even done something as basic as inserting a hollow stick near the boy’s mouth to provide airflow.

And yet, the boy hadn’t drowned. There had to be a reason.

“It’s fine. He can keep breathing for a while longer. He’s holding a mermaid’s tear in his mouth,” Thomas explained.

“A mermaid’s tear?”

“Yeah. It’s a keepsake from my grandfather, who used to be a fisherman. With that in his mouth, he should be able to breathe underwater for at least another hour.”

Apparently, the slime’s interior, being mostly water, allowed the item’s magic to work.

I glanced at the boy again and saw that he was holding something with a chain attached to it in his mouth.
It looked like they had crafted the so-called mermaid’s tear into a protective charm and had him wear it regularly.

Now that Thomas mentioned it, I vaguely remembered writing about such an item in a novel. A pale pink pearl capable of allowing its user to breathe underwater.

For some reason, an overwhelming urge to obtain it surged within me.

Confused by this sudden desire but unable to ignore it, I voiced my demand.

“Alright. Once I save the boy, I’ll take that as my reward.”

“What? …Fine, take it!”

“In exchange, make sure you save him. Please, I’m begging you,” Thomas said, his voice trembling on the verge of tears.

I replied that I couldn’t make any guarantees.

Watching him beg over and over for his child’s sake, even though he likely despised me as his wife’s former lover, left me with an indescribable feeling.

A parent willing to completely suppress their pride and lower their head for their child—it was a sight both humbling and piercingly raw.

I averted my eyes from Thomas.

Instead, I focused on the crowd watching us and spotted a familiar figure among them.