Is it wrong for slimes to be in dungeons? (revised)

Chapter 25: Darkness of Oarario

As I stared up at the sky a soft yawn came from behind.

I glanced back to see Sophia in a nightgown, bags under her eyes, and a tired expression on her face...well, I say that but her face looked mostly the same as it normally did. Her eyes were just slightly droopier than usual was all.

"What's wrong?" I asked her as she approached. "Why aren't you sleeping,"

"Couldn't" she said simply.

"I don't...you seem sleepy to me," I said looking at her expression.

"I didn't mean like that," she said. "I couldn't sleep while you were so obviously worried about something," she clarified.

"..." I stare at her for a moment before drawing my attention back to the stary sky. "How could you tell,"

"Just a hunch," she shrugged. "You're rather easy to read," she added.

"I see..." I said trying to hide my displeasure.

"So...what is it?"

"...It's just that this entire situation seems so...ordinary here," I said finally scratching my head. "The way Apollo can just run around destroying property and endangering people and the guild just turns a blind eye and no one stops it, the way Soma just absently lets the higher-ups in his familia just control and abuse power against the other people in the familia" I added. "It frustrates me for some reason," Perhaps it was because I had begun to build a nation myself. But seeing one that lacked any sort of order or form of authority to hold other people accountable was annoying. Almost like a mockery of my efforts to create a peaceful society with Tempest despite it having nothing to do with me.

Maybe it was irrational. But it annoyed me nonetheless.

"The gods can really just do what they want and unless another god interferes and not a thing is done by the guild," I sighed. "It makes me question how Orario hasn't collapsed already without anything but the whims of gods to hold others accountable for crimes,"

I felt Sophia's gaze on me as I spoke.

"I guess I'm just frustrated with how poorly structured this city seems to be," I said. "If that even makes sense,"

She stayed silent for a moment a blank expression on her face as she turned to face forward. "I can't say I quite understand," she said. "To me, it's just how things are. I never really put thought into it," she went on. "Although for me that's how it is with most things. Amaterasu says I need to start thinking more for myself and make my own decisions, but well I don't really know how," she said.

Silence filled the atmosphere for a moment before she opened her mouth again.

"The entire city is reliant on the goodwill of the gods, there was a time when this city was even worse than it was now with a certain group of familias called the evils causing chaos and crime to run rampant in the city. I wasn't in it at the time but I remember hearing about it," she said. "They were eventually wiped out by someone under the alias 'Gale' but they definitely left their mark on this city," she added. "Things may seem bad now but they were much worse before...I think most people also just accept what the gods say," she continued. "They are gods after all. And our power as adventurers comes from them."

"Still..." I said staring up at the sky. "No you're right, this is just how things are here I suppose," I said sighing.

As enticing as upending an entire society sounded I'd have to decline that offer today. Not when there were other things I had on my plate.

I've been putting it off for a while now, but after this, it's about time I finally finished collecting my soul. I decided.

Things had happened one after another stopping me from just going ahead with it, but well, after this I would finally go ahead and do it. Regardless of what happened up here. From what I could feel 5 large fragments were left roaming around. They would be stronger than anything I had encountered so far, so I would need to properly prepare, but it was about time I get on that.

Silence once again flooded the atmosphere as I stared off into space.

"I'm sorry," a soft mumble cut through the silence.

"Huh? What for?"

"I've...never really been good at comforting people," Sophia said. A complicated expression on her face. "Emotions aren't really my thing,"

"No no, it's fine," I wave it off. "It's not like it's your job to make me feel better or anything besides it's just how things work here,"

She peered at me silently for a moment. "But still I tried to talk with you because you had a problem, yet when you answered there wasn't a thing I could say to make you feel better," she said scratching her cheek. Her fox tail swished behind her in a way that seemed strange.

"That still isn't something to apologize for..." I tried to say but she held up her hand.

"Actually, there is something I could do that might make you feel better," she said placing her hands over her mouth as if she were contemplating whether she really wanted to say this "...So I have this spell..."

(A/N: so I'm uploading this a day late (or two depending on time zone stuff) so sorry for that, but I was really busy the day before and didn't get the chance to finish this.  as usual if there are any writing issues or constructive criticism for this chapter I'm all ears so yeah.  I'm really tired rn though so I'm going to go to sleep.  goodnight and hope you enjoyed this chapter.  see you guys next chapter.)