CHAPTER 2 – MUDDY CONTINUANCE
My consciousness returns after a night's sleep.
It's raining again. I hear how the raindrops are falling on the tent, which I share with Kyou-san and Ara-san. The latter is just sitting by my side, having a conversation with Rine, who talks to her from the side of the tent, which I left open when setting it up.
Our camp has more or less a dry spot with my smart arrangement of tarps and tents, even though only the trench we dug hinders the water from swashing over.
I rub my nose bridge while the information I gathered during sleep is hammering on my mind thanks to my [Dormurnal]-skill. I don't really sleep like others, a part of my consciousness remains active and can wake me if it notices something strange.
However, I also forget most of it after I decide to stay asleep, most likely to give me as much rest as possible instead of dwelling over stuff. When I wake up, however, I get a flood of all the things I heard and smelled during the time I was sleeping, everything I forgot before. “Phew...” Looks like Rine divided her time between tailoring and playing with the campfire for magic training purposes, while she tried to get more information out of a totally frustrated Ara-san.
Rine is just too talented. I guess that she actually somehow already knew the basics of [Elemental Magic], but of course, it would be frustrating for Ara-san to be outgrown by Rine in fire magic within five minutes.
Well, nothing I can do. Or willing to do.
I open my eyes and a message-window greets me.
You gain 2 WP. Sleeping next to your wives gives you the energy to face the next day!
As if.
I slowly raise my body and let my eyes wander around the camp.
“Good morning, Kenta!” Rine is needlessly cheery as always.
“...good morning.”
“Have a drink.”
Rine takes a metal pot from the fire and pours some chai into a wooden drinking cup. This is a drink which is somewhat like a fruit tea. I don't know how Kyou-san was able to make it, but it's a good countermeasure against this shitty weather.
A few sips are enough to make me feel warm inside again.
I hear rustling behind me, Kyou-san is also getting up. I can hear her groaning, but that's pretty normal whenever we have to sleep through the rain. Moist air just isn't pleasant for sleeping.
What's not normal is that Kyou-san sluggishly puts her head on my shoulder, while fetching my drinking cup. She drinks from it.
You gain 1 WP. An indirect kiss is nice, especially if it comes unconsciously. It shows how much the two of you adapted to each other.
“Shut up,” groans Kyou-san, after emptying the cup in one big gulp.
Wait, the way she moves, the way she sounds, does that mean... I check her status. [Bleeding].
Not again...
What many men don't consider when they imagine how cool it would be to travel as the only male with an all-female party, is that girls have periods.
It's a natural function, which comes once a month and lasts from a few days to a week. As far as I know, girls feel like shit during this time and have a primal instinct to unleash their bad mood to whoever is available.
So men developed a primal instinct as well, which is best expressed with the following question: How can I get away without pissing her off even more?
Last time we were in Aroahenn, so I had plenty of ways avoiding her by training with Oro'hekk and the other guards to obtain the [Ranger]-class-up, just get there a tad earlier, try to stay longer, it was entirely possible.
In contrast to that, we're traveling now, so I have to converse with the rest of the party repeatedly, giving her more and more chances to gnaw my ears. So what should I do?
Actually, just pushing her away and start running comes into mind.
“Why are you acting like I'm some sort of beast?” She caught on! “Don't act like a pussy, Ken, I can't stand that today. Another cup, please!”
She nonchalantly pushes her breasts against my back, as she tries to give my cup to Rine for a refill. While it may feel pleasant in a certain way, I can't help but feel unnerved by the fact that she sticks close to me, like she doesn't want me to get away.
Maybe I should start learning how to count days to avoid this in the future?
Wait, wasn't Rine's period right after Kyou-san's last time!?
“Please no...”
“Keep it quiet, Ken!” Kyou-san pinches my side, as she grunts her displease.
“Phew...” I need to stay calm. The reason why I'm panicking here is my concern that Kyou-san can easily tear up my ear with her teeth, and I can't help thinking that this might actually happen if I'm not careful. “Could you please let me go? I need to... scout.” Let's switch the schedule today.
“No.” Kyou-san's iron fingers bury into my flesh.
“Why, woman!?”
“Don't feel like it. Need something to support me.”
“Make sense!”
“Not so loud, idiot! Today is a bad day. A girl's bad day.”
As if I wouldn't know!
I can't even imagine what she's going through, but I have my rights! Well, not exactly, as I'm in a fantasy world and other sets of laws apply, but she may take into consideration that her period is her business and not mine!
“Kyou, are you alright?” Rine comes closer to feel her temperature. What about me? Why no concern for me?
“It'll be better in an hour or so. Just waking up is bad. I also need to change my underwear.” Could you leave out these details!? I seriously don't want to know!
“Didn't you use a pad?” Why are you talking about that stuff with me in-between!?
“I did, but it slipped during sleep.”
“Ah, I see. That happens to me as well, because I move too much sometimes and tear the strand.”
...spare me...
“Back at home, the pads were less baggy before they were soaked, I still need to get the hang on how to best place them.”
“Oh, I see. I can teach you.”
“...thanks. Another cup, please.”
As a man, it's hard to not think about how Kyou-san is currently bleeding down there while she's stuck to my back, and this is kinda revolting.
I know, it's a natural phenomenon and such, but this is just... dirty. I guess the same goes for girls when they think about things like morning woods and such.
“Phew...” Too bad that I need to get used to it.
Then Kyou-san pulls out the next bitch-move: “Rine-chan, Arako, could you please look around to make sure if monsters are close?”
“Hey, that's my job!” Don't take away my chance to get away from you!
“Your job right now is to let me lean on you.” Here she is again, tyrant Kyou-san!
Some guys might fantasize how this behavior would be romantic inclined. Like ‘Don't leave me while I'm feeling bad’, but Kyou-san is another matter, as she just lets me suffer to make herself feel better.
I'd probably do the same. Heck, I did the same sometimes in the past.
...karma really sucks.
―○●○―
We're back to traveling.
I hate the rainy season, as most of the days I'm soaked wet. Even with the waxed coat, moving around as much as I do, as I scout ahead and behind the girls while they're walking, tends to let water pass through the hood and the opening of the coat.
Kyou-san mood has improved since this morning, not by much, but I'm thankful for every tiny bit. She has made a lot of soup, using the water from the rain and Ara-san's [Create Water]-spell which creates much more water when it rains. Then we arrived at the Ohl and followed it upriver to the Spirit Swamps. At least we could spare the water-fetching trip.
This now stored soup should give us the necessary nutrients for a lengthened march through the swamps, which may have no edible plants, animals, or monsters at all.
“Here we are.” Some trees with long, string-like leaves, in addition to little lakes of dark water, it doesn't look like much from here. Looking into the distance, there are a lot of these tree clusters, and I guess there will be some spooky mist, which has currently been ripped apart by the rain.
I activate [Wild Eyes] and sense spirits... the trees right here have strong ones for plants, similar to the ones of Aroahenn. I don't like these spirits... well, they're just some plants planning to kill us, right? How bad can it be?
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
…
“Phew... better be prepared.”
Kyou-san's body shivers. “If you want to reconsider your decisions, I won't make any remarks.” She also has [Spirit Magic], so while she may have no skills to help her navigate through the swamps, she's somewhat aware of the maliciousness of this place.
“Trees, back off.” Ara-san just starts walking, yet the trees are actually bending away to put some space between them and her laid back ears, that show her confidence. “I'm the boss here, so you don't have to worry. Praise me!”
I put my hand on her shoulder. “First we need to get through.” Usually, Ara-san doesn't need any praise or acknowledgment, but I guess after Rine's training, she may feel a bit disgraced. “When we are, you'll get candy.”
“That's not what I'm asking for.”
“Phew, yeah, yeah. Let's get over this first. I think we need to alter our usual approach. Scouting ahead on my own just sounds like a stupid idea here, same goes for splitting the party for other purposes. Ara-san, you're in the middle of the formation, so we can retreat to you if things go bad. I'll take the front, Rine and Kyou-san to the back, Rine right, Kyou-san left, but stick close enough to Ara-san.” Kyou-san is on the left because it's a little smoother for me to turn to this side while having my bow or spear armed. “Finally, those trees will try to play with your mind. So be suspicious of everything they might pull out. Ara-san, I'll rely on you to sense their tries, and to counter them.”
“This is a great responsibility for sure, but I'll do my best.”
“Any questions?”
“If we do get separated,” Kyou-san starts, “what will we do, Ken?”
“Die.”
“How precious.”
“That's how it is. Rine, any questions?”
“No.”
“OK. Let's just do it. Everyone, light up a torch.” It's to make it easier to spot each other and if the rain recedes and the mist returns, then it will also disperse it a bit. Kyou-san and Rine use the [Torch]-spell and make a white light flicker on their palms, while Ara-san and I use the standard one, which is a bit weakened in the rain, but still easy to see.
I set a slow pace, while I’d like to get through these swamps fast, I also want to get some mobs killed during this trip, and the terrain might be treacherous.
While navigating between the lakes, my boots are starting to sink in a bit, giving squelching sounds with every step. There is also some pressure I feel; the trees are trying to influence me, or to be more precise, my spirit. I use [Wild Eyes], and while it doesn't have any direct effect, I feel like focusing my spirit for [Spirit Magic] does make it easier to dismiss this uncomfortable feeling.
Ara-san behind me seems to be busy covering up for Rine and Kyou-san, whose spirit capabilities are severely lacking.
Cool mist starts to appear, despite the rain, and it touches my skin, giving me shivers, while I can't help but follow every sound around here. Barbed frogs are swimming inside the dark lakes, mosquitoes fly above the water just to be preyed upon. They're also swirling around us, at least for a short while, before they suddenly scatter.
“Is it you, Ara-san?”
“What?”
“The insects. Is it your [Bug Repellent]?” A [Spirit Magic]-spell that she has had since forever.
“Affirmative. I usually use it.”
“Aha...” I didn't pay much attention before, but I guess it makes sense. Who likes insects around them if they can help it? It's just that in these swamps I really feel the difference.
I need to calm my nerves. We're just at the border and I'm already going crazy.
Maybe turning back isn't that bad of an idea after all? No, this only strengthens my earlier argument: If even we, who have [Spirit Magic] in our party, feel so bad here, Correo or any other people won't be able to follow us here.
I just need to grit my teeth and stop being overly conscious about the fact that the plants will kill us if we're not careful. In games, plant-enemies aren't as spooky as this swamp makes me believe them to be, so while this world is not a game, I can still try to trick myself to calm myself, imagining that we're in a game instead of a horror movie.
These plants would be just like some random treant mobs, they may be tough, but not excessively dangerous. They might try to kill us, but we're stronger, we're prepared, and we have a fucking [Druid] in our party! What can go wrong?
Everything, but the answer I try to give myself is 'nothing'.
At least I'm a bit calmer now, the squelching of my boots is less nerve-wracking, the barbed frogs don't show me omens, it's just like a bad horror movie.
“Kenta, how about a hiking song?”
“...hah!? What are you talking about, Rine?”
“A hiking song. Because everyone looks so tense.”
“...first, I don't know any. Second, it'll attract just some mobs. Third, how do you even come to ideas like that?”
“I know some, and learning magic is easier while humming songs, that's why I started to remember many. I didn't consider monsters, but I don't mind either. Maybe we'll be less tense, after fighting once?”
“Rine-chan...” Kyou-san rubs her temples, “I know you try to help, but today I'm really not in the mood.”
“Ah, sorry Kyou! I forgot. How are you?”
“It's not that bad, but if anyone of you starts singing now, I might hit you.”
...should I be thankful for Kyou-san's condition, or should I try to just distance myself to the whole mess, including her condition and this whole insanity of a conversation? I mean, this topic is just too surreal! Well, at least the tension is gone.
“So we need something else. How about... a game? Like the syllable-game?”
“Please don't,” Ara-san begs, “this will only lead to even more headaches. I mean, while we speak the same language, we'll hear everything translated. That's why there will be next to no fitting word.”
“Huh?”
“Just assume, that the syllable-game is impossible with heroes.”
“Oh, then do you know any games?”
“We could play mental irlkrin.”
“Ah, I'm not that good at that one.” Rine, you're basically not good with anything that requires patience and planning ahead, it's not like the alfr board game is an exception.
Kyou-san groans, while rubbing her temples another time: “Girls, can't we just talk about something like usual? I mean, I don't like the atmosphere here, but I'm in no condition to overdo it.”
“So whenever I'm scouting you leisurely talk, huh? Well, I don't care, but I like to focus on what's ahead, so whatever you do, don't distract me.” Seriously, that's why I'm usually circling them, looking for dangers and pursuers.
“Kenta, can you explain to me, what exactly you're doing?”
“Huh?” What are you talking about, Rine?
“About tracks, about detecting enemies, can you teach me?”
I so want to turn my head to her and show her my baffled face, but instead, I consciously furrow my eyebrows, to keep me focused. “I'm just using my [Skills], not much that I can teach you.”
“What are they telling you?”
...I can't hate her for wanting to know how my [Skills] work, I'm the same, I also want to know what each of the girls' [Skills] does. “First is [Pitch]. It doesn't directly enhance my hearing, but it makes it possible to discern sounds easily. So your and my voice doesn't overlap with the croaking of the frogs, the splashing of water whenever a frog jumps in, the sound of the mosquitoes flying around, the wind blowing at my ear, each of your breathes, the snarling of some reptile ahead. With this [Skill] all those sounds are clear to me.”
“Wow! I didn't know, that's amazing! How is it to hear all of it at the same time?”
Hm... I used to think of [Skills] as a tool, something I just use to make all that hero-stuff work, but I guess it can be actually an experience if you're open-minded. Maybe I'd be way more excited about this world if I weren't a kidnapped juvenile, but something like a tourist.
I used to look down on the way Rine always finds something positive about every situation, but maybe she has finally infected me. Or maybe I'm just too easy as a man, to fall for something like that comment about my [Skill] just because a pretty girl is saying it.
“How it is... You're feeling like an idiot because you realize how many sounds escape you usually.” As long as it's possible for me to hear it, I can listen to it with [Pitch]. So I can even hear my own heartbeat, which usually isn't audible unless you're in a silent room.
“Ah... sorry.” Don't apologize. “What about the next [Skill]?”
“It's [Farsight]. Like it says, I can see farther away. Doesn't do much inside the mist, but it also makes it easier to see details from afar, so it's still useful. Like that frog there, it has a broken barb right under its left eye, just the tip though.”
“I think I can see the frog... It's like a spyglass?”
“It doesn't narrow my field of view though.”
“Amazing!”
I'm really too much of an easy man, a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of me is growing, which makes me feel a lot manlier. “Last one is [Wild Eyes], it sharpens my spirit sense so that I can detect lifeforms through the mist. While Ara-san is way better than me without any [Skills], [Wild Eyes] is faster when focusing on spirits than her.”
Of course, Ara-san can't let it slide like that. “Actually, it's a [Spell], since it uses MP. [Wild Eyes] allows Kenta-kun to swiftly focus all his capabilities to take in his environment using certain criteria. For now, he just uses it to see if spirits are there and what kind of spirits they are, as his spirit sense is still underdeveloped. Think of it as a [Spell], that gives you fast information, how many yellow objects are within your sight.”
“I don't get it, but it's cool, right?”
“If we sum it up, yes. It certainly lets him stand above most [Spirit Magic]-users that are not alfar, at least concerning spirit senses.”
“Phew... it's not like I'm trying to mess with any alfr anytime soon.” The last one was enough, the mercenary-alfr I killed. She underestimated my spirit senses and tried to sneak up on me, so I got her when she let her guard down in her arrogance.
I sure hope that [Wild Eyes] is up to the task of getting us out of these swamps safely. At least we still have Ara-san, she's often dependable enough, so as long as we keep this alfr here, there should be nothing here that outsmarts us on the spirit-level.
―○●○―
Kruan rips the meat from the crocodile with his maw, sharp teeth separating meat and bone. The still living animal fights within his grasp, but Kruan’s claws dig deeper into it. “Giff up!” He spits out the meat-crumbs and bores his teeth into the crocodile's neck, breaking it with a strong jerk.
He then throws the bloody cadaver into the bog. This should be enough to lure some monsters into their direction, it's for the task the Great One gave him and his companions. At least one of the tasks.
“Thanks, little lizard.” A smiling fellow, who's all flesh and meat, without a single scale to boot, claps with his hands while coming closer to Kruan. He also tried to shove Kruan into the bog, but Kruan bore his hind claws into the ground. “Kch. Don't be so uptight, man, this way you won't win any friends.”
“Noat uptigh, but carrful.”
“Ss'rak, typical. No honor in falling into water, no honor in brushing your teeth, no honor in being relaxed. Well, not that I need to care. By the way, when are you shedding? Just for reference.”
“Yuu!” Kruan is a bit on edge, but he just clenches his claws, feeling them on his scaly palm, which can withstand the sharpness easily. “Juast be carrful, yuu!”
“I know, we talked about it in full length... To be accurate, I talked about it in full length, but could you please try to work on your pronunciation? I mean, it almost feels like I'm preaching to a speech-impaired, it may be not fair to ask for it, but I've heard Dökk who are easier to understand.”
Kruan can't take it right now. He is at the end of his nerves because of reasons which have nothing to do with this quest, but he roars at the soft-skinned nonetheless: “UAAAAH!”
“...you still have blood in your spit. This is certainly impressive within your kind, but I'm no ss'rak, so you don't need to make a point. Ah, there is a monster, another fullupi.”
A slimy amphibious aberration of a salamander, fullupis eat fresh cadavers, though sometimes they produce them on their own. For Kruan, it would be a formidable enemy, acidic skin, sharp teeth, a maw large enough to swallow an ss'rak.
The soft-skinned, on the other hand, picks up a stick, just a small twig fallen off a tree ages ago. “Maybe that's overkill?” He throws it, right through the head of the fullupi, which instantly dies. “Ah. No more fullupi please, I'm not getting any XP out of them anymore.”
While Kruan doesn't like that soft-skinned person, he has to recognize his strength. Which isn't surprising, counting the fact that this one has been a hero for quite a while.
“Back to the top- ah!”
“Whazzit?”
“Intruders... from the northeast, four people it seems.” The soft-skinned used magic to set marks around the swamps, even though the weak soft-skinned avoid this land usually.
“What kaind?” Kruan has to know because it could endanger the missions he was bestowed with.
“Let me check... there. Three of them are humans...” Humans? Kruan feels his throat growling, as his bad mood is something he has to carry because of a human. “Two of them have tits, so they're either women or fat. I guess women, one is blond, the other black-haired.”
Black-haired? Like that one... They're close enough to Déjuma, which is supposed to have many black-haired people, but Kruan can't help but gets his hopes high. “The other one?”
“Male, I guess. Or really flat and muscular. Guess, no man would pork her then, but let's say he's male. All of them are rather young.”
“Haer-kollor!”
“Man, keep it down. It's also black. I thought the girl was just plain ugly, but the boy has similar facial features... They aren't Déjumians or Southerners, the skin color is different. I can't sense their spirits with the insects, but I think they're really humans. Maybe mutants?”
Different from other humans!? “Zhe boi... Neim!?”
“Huh?”
“Hish... hi-s na-me!” Kruan tried his hardest to pronounce each word like a soft-skinned would do.
“Do you expect me to just flip a switch so that I can hear their conversa- it's Kenta.”
Calmness. A wave of calm grows from Kruan's conflicted heart, at this moment his state of mind is entirely serene. “I ne-ed you-r help.”
“Oh? You really hate that guy, right?”
Kruan nods, though it isn't hatred for that human that spurts it. It's obligation, it's honor, it's love. It's the answer to his frustration, it's the pinnacle of his doubts, it's the hatred he had for himself.
“Well, sure. Let's head back to the village and rally some more guys. But let me look at the final one first who has [Bug Repellent] on, my spy can't even take a look... ah, there. Good thing that I planted it into some frogs as well... Oh shit! It's Ara'ainn!”
“Hho?”
“Ara'ainn! The hero-sage, the alfr hero of knowledge. That's bad, that's really, really bad!”
Kruan furrows his eyes, as he looks at the soft-skinned. Why should he be so rattled, just because he saw one of his kin?
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