The Sovereign of the Sanctuary Meadow is what the inhabitants of the Flatmore Forest call the elk or what I was able to gather through feelings only, they can't really speak to be fair. It's quite a badass name, not gonna lie. It also became clear that there are other powerful beings like him governing this massive patch of woodlands and the different territories don’t necessarily have the best relations.

Considering where we were attacked this is most likely the western region of the forest so then the other two big bad monsters I heard about must be lords of the north and south. Why not the east, what happened to the sovereign there? That one used to be a little aggressive and had the misfortune of ruling the lands closest to Granhall. Tough luck.

Although these powerful creatures are considered overlords of their own dominion they barely do any ruler-like things. They make a few ground rules and that’s it, they leave the rest to nature like adults leaving children to do their own thing in the park. This means that as long as I abide by the rules and do not fuck around with the sovereign’s own gang, everything is on the table.

It was weird and somehow refreshing to talk to a beast instead of people because communication is less tricky and more straightforward.

The hospitality and help the elk offered were not as grandiose as someone of his stature could provide but I have to keep in mind that these aren’t people, beasts have different values. Food consisted of fruits and nuts around the clearing and whatever game I could hunt myself. Yes, I was allowed to hunt, just a little further away and only modestly, nothing more than I would eat.

The gift I received from the elk, let’s call him Big Fluff, so he gave me a piece of his antler, a symbol of protection as a friend of the forest. It was just a glittering piece of bone, pretty and the size of a pebble, yet the inhabitants of the forest seemed to recognize it and treat me with less caution. At least the wolf pack that was about to eat me three days ago did. The moment I pulled it out after determining the fight would either be lost or won by luck only they bowed slightly and left. This opened my eyes to how valuable this gift actually is and made me think about what its value in gold could be. Not like I’d sell it, it is my key to free passage in the forest.

It’s dope.

The elk later warned that beasts under other sovereigns might not respect the symbol as much or become straight-up hostile because of it but I have little to fear, he assured me. Let’s just say, it wasn’t too convincing.

I spent around six days just living amongst the creatures of the sanctuary now, like a wild jungle girl and it only further reinforced my liking of the city. To top it off, the hungry wolfpack wasn't the only close call I had on my hunting trips since after I attacked something the antler lost all its meaning and I was on my own. I accidentally stumbled into a frog looking like a bigger leaf and vomiting some vile ground-melting saliva and although the fight wasn’t too difficult I had to cook and eat the damn thing somehow after killing it. Then there was the squirrel flying around faster than August runs, the fox camouflaging its big fluffy tail to look like a berry bush, or the lizard on two legs that looked like a rock when curled up. Mana Vision was key to noticing the beasts as most things in this forest like to hide and jump you instead of doing things properly. Damn cowards.

I would’ve left already and gone back to even the shitty mercenaries of the Fist who kidnapped but the elk told me that getting out of the forest might prove cumbersome for outsiders because navigation can be… tricky.

I thought I could just follow the river back to where I came from or at least to human lands, except the damn thing branches off so many times that I could spend months following the flow before finally leaving the treeline. This meant I had to rely on locals, the beasts to guide me and the only ones leaving this paradise were a group of hogs migrating when they felt like it which turned out to be quite a few days.

Do I hate the forest any less now? Absolutely fucking not. I stink, my hair is sticking to my face, my clothes are turning into rags and my sandals became useless days ago. To top it off I can only tolerate sleeping on the ground for so long and living off of nature provides little culinary pleasure.

All in all, if it wasn’t for the Fluff duo and the safety provided here I would’ve gone insane by now or just degraded back to a more animalistic Elyssia. The big one despises that name but can’t really do much about it, the little one spends most of his days with me so I have its child hostage, rhetorically speaking. Wherever I go the little fiend follows, everywhere, except hunting, Big Fluff prohibits that. He’s a real pain in the ass whenever he eats the berries I find that might not be poisonous according to Survival or chews on my clothes when I’m trying to sleep.

For the first time in days, I finally got rid of the small fucker and found the thing I was looking for. A little pond, it's quite shallow yet clear like every other body of water around the clearing. It’ll do.

I peel off the rags clinging onto me and lower myself into the somewhat chilly water. Let’s be real, who’s going to care about me going nude here? The animals? With that said, the weather is quite nice and all, it's just…no clothes, chilly water…

Thankfully I arrived here with a plan.

The water is not the temperature I prefer either and as I sink deeper into the water a shiver runs up my back.

Oh how terrible, if only I had a way to warm up the water around me… hehe. Hot bath time. I’m willing to burn through all my mana here since I secured my food earlier today, so I think I deserve some relative luxury and me time.

I generate heat around me, the same process as creating fire just at a lower intensity and no fuel to burn. The water slowly begins to warm up and I feel my muscles relax as the exhaustion of the past days melts off my body along with the dirt and grime. The bed of the tiny pond is muddy dirt but beggars can’t be choosers so I lean back and sink into the Elyssia soup.

***

It’s hard to tell how much time has passed when I’m startled awake by something licking my forehead but it must’ve been short, too short.

“Fuck off Fluff, not now!” I mutter.

The licking doesn’t stop, so I open my eyes to send off the little bugger except when I look up I see a completely different deer standing above me.

“Who are you?” I blink in confusion.

The deer blinks back and lays down directly beside me. I sit up to take a better look at my puddle and that’s when I see seven other animals lazing in my bath.

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Two questions run through my mind; why can’t I have anything good and how the fuck can something this big sneak up on me?

“Hey, no!” Another deer finds a comfy spot on my legs. “Arhg, get off you fat bastard.” I yell at it, which somehow works at making it move.

“Okay, that's it. This isn’t a communal bath and the pond is only so big. Get out, all of you!” I shout at them like a mother would at her unruly kids with even less effect.

I feel someone chewing on my hair so I glance back at the culprit from the corner of my eye.

“Fluff,” I call his name menacingly. “this is your doing, isn’t it?”

He stops chewing and slowly spits my hair out. I just washed my hair…

“You called them didn’t you?” I ask with poison in my tone. “I get it, sharing is caring. Let me share something else. I heard cold right after warm does wonders to the body.” I say with a malicious grin.

How will I get out of the water and still cool it down fast enough? It’s simple, I don't. I’m a petty and spiteful person who always gets back at others even if I fuck myself over in the process. I can warm myself up afterward to avoid catching a cold anyway.

I grit my teeth, preparing for the ice-cold bath, and draw the heat away fast and mercilessly, slowing the vibration of mana in an instant. I warmed the water slowly on purpose to find the perfect temperature, right now I have no such concerns. Freeze.

I don’t actually want to freeze anything or anyone, just make it bone-chillingly cold and I succeed. Spectacularly so.

One by one the beasts jump up or cry out as the cold reaches their wet fur, changing the warm pleasant feeling into get the hell out of here cold. Of course, I’m the one suffering the most since the mana is centered around me and the effects are strongest in the center. Forst builds on my skin, but it's all worth it. The way they flee, the surprise, those faces… I’d fucking do it again.

Yeah, I’ve somewhat learned to discern animal facial expressions during my time here, I really need some other company.

My limbs soon turn numb and I can’t feel my fingers by the time the last of the animals jumps out of the little pool and I follow it right away. It’s my bath, I’m leaving it last because I’m better, damn parasites.

“T-t-t-this was a d-d-d-dumb idea.” I stutter, laying on my back on the dirt as even that is warmer than the water my stupid ass cooled down to a near-freezing point.

I’m rubbing myself while wiggling on the ground, anything to generate more heat while magic works overtime to warm me up without setting the air on fire. I’m still cold and shivering when a new source of heat touches my body. Fluff lays down next to me, somehow already rid of the water in his fur, and uses his body to warm me up, nuzzling me his usual cute way.

“Okay, okay. We cool little fellow?” I ask the fawn, scratching his chin.

He licks my face, which lets me know even without words that yeah, we cool.

As soon as I’m dry and no longer quivering my clothes come back on only for the invaders of my hot bath to return, and milk me for some more heat.

“Sharing is caring, huh Fluff?” I ask the animal and it just blinks. “Yes, yes, here.”

I warm the air around me, a foolish mistake. Soon I’m smothered between the wet and cold bodies of many animals accompanied by their soaked smell.

“No~o, my clothes were still mostly usable.” I try to push them away with my laughable Might before just giving up.

I guess I kinda deserve that one.

***

Dinner was roasted rabbit and berries, horribly cooked, poorly seasoned and lacking variety… I guess we were a bit spoiled back in the Fort now that I look back to the usual menu in the mess hall.

Since I had nothing better to do I just played around with magic a little bit, making a rainbow with light and water. An interesting tidbit I found is that I can make the earth turn sandish by pulling all the moisture out of it, drying it with air and grinding the pieces. It has little to no use and the whole process costs a crap ton of mana but I find it interesting.

As my mana nears rock bottom I go to bed, unconcerned about my surroundings because if anything could get to the middle of the clearing and kill then there was nothing I could do in the first place. The so-called bed is nothing more than a pile of leaves slightly elevated from the ground so fewer insects can climb on me with one element of comfort. Fluff. That’s right, he reeks a bit and twitches sometimes in his sleep but even so, the warmth and softness make my breathing hug pillow worth it.

I'm gonna sleep especially well tonight as tomorrow we’ll move toward civilization and today I finally managed to clean myself, even if that turned into a disaster towards the end. My clothes are nowhere near presentable so I’m hopeful people can understand that one can’t care much about self-care stranded in a forest.

I expected myself to snooze off immediately, however, that’s totally not what happens. My mind keeps on spinning about useless questions like; what happened to the others, did they win against the attackers? Did anyone else… die?

If only I had mana right now I could at least distract myself. My stats didn’t really change these few days as there was only one level to gain by doing basic chores. My skills did get some progress for the most part. I tried to stay safe these few days, dying due to becoming impatient would be foolish to the max.

This is a textbook example situation where I would just do complicated stuff with my mana until my brain cooked off and I fell asleep, except I did that already and it hasn’t really worked. One would expect a substantial stat increase after days of hunting deep in the forest but that’s not what happened. I gained only a single level and progressed my Skills a bunch as I tried to limit my exposure to danger, knowing well how things go whenever I take my safety lightly.

Yeah, I learned the world fucks with me and I come close to dying every time I think I have things handled. Let’s try that breathing method Martha taught me, falling asleep in seconds is a basic skill for a proper mercenary. There should probably be an actual Skill for it, huh?

Deep breath, as deep as I can and a little sip more… hold for five seconds and exhale for five seconds. Counting distracts the mind and breathing calms the body. In and out, slow and repeated.

There’s no need to worry about what could’ve happened. I did my part. Trust the others to survive and the old bastard to win. Get out of here alive and return to them, nothing else matters.

This thought process and the calming technique manage to make me slowly sink into slumber, bringing me one tiny step closer to the way home.

***

My wake-up alarm is not the chatter or slammed doors I got used to in the Fort but a wet tongue, and tiny warm puffs of air. Which one do I prefer? Well, this one is gross while also cute so… I’d prefer neither.

“Good morning to you too little guy.” I pat scratch Fluff under his chin.

He can’t really stand up with me hugging him close so his only choice is violence, licks until only one of us is left. My stomach agrees with the prospect of getting up, the joint effort winning out against my laziness pretty quickly.

The breakfast is... surprise, surprise, berries. The meat ran out yesterday and there’s no time to hunt before departure with the hogs dictating the tempo so I’ll have to make do with just this.

Both Fluffs come over to say their goodbyes their one way. Licks and feelings.

Grateful, friend, visit.

“I’ll be sure to come around if I get lost in the forest again.” I answer cheekily.

I'm rather sure the sovereign can understand me speaking. I bow one last time to express my respect even though he doesn’t demand anything like that, it just feels right.

The twenty or so hogs are waiting for me planning to travel along the river to visit other feeding locations and see relatives, or so I’ve heard. I wish I could just ride one of them, that would be super cool, just imagine me slinging spells from the back of a big trampling pig.

Wishful thinking. I’m supposed to run alongside the four-legged creatures through rough terrain for fours throughout days…

Enough bitching, let’s get back to some proper meals and comfy beds, back to sweet sweet civilization.