The Harmless Forest
That night, the Puppet gently placed the glowing yellow slime ball on the dining table and stared at it.
With this new addition, the moonlight now had a small companion to help illuminate the room. Minutes went by and she continued to look at the slime ball.
Hours went by and yet her eyes remained fixed on her new gift.
She then picked up the slime ball and moved to the living room. She made sure to as careful as she could when placing it down on the mat. She then sat on the couch, and continued staring at the glowing object. Once more hours of that had passed, she moved it to a different room and repeated this activity.
She was given three slime balls. So she placed one next to the withered flower upstairs, one outside on the verandah railings and then one for her to play with all night. This became her source of entertainment for the next few nights.
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…
In a prestigious castle, hosted by equally eminent individuals, a tea party was underway. It was one of the many regular tea parties where the rich, royals or people of high authority would often go solely to make political connections. To the average civilians, this gathering may have looked luxurious and over-the-top, but for the actual partygoers, it was quite small and humble compared to their usual celebrations.
Cecil was attending this party, not because he wanted to, but due to a few obligations he had. While he was taking a casual stroll outside, he was spotted by three elegantly dressed women who happily waved at him as they giggled under their fans.
The handsome blonde smiled and waved back, effortlessly melting the hearts of all three of them. These women were too short sighted to spot his fake smile. He detested women like that.
"Cecil!" a voice called out, interrupting the scene, "I've been looking for you."
Ah, now here comes an actual woman. A woman who Cecil could actually talk to without succumbing to the mental fatigue that often accompanied superficial conversations.
The three girls hissed and exchanged gossip in hushed tones when they saw who had called Cecil's name. He proudly ignored them.
"Why, if it isn't the original hero: Elizabeth," Cecil grinned. His grin looked a lot more mischievous compared to his usual facade but unlike his smile, this grin of his was always genuine, "what brings you here?"
"Well firstly, you can wipe that obnoxious grin off your face."
Even in the past, when Elizabeth's status was considerably lower than Cecil's, she never hesitated to engage in casual banter with him.
"But secondly, I just received a free invitation to the Da Vinci Museum," From the way the original hero spoke, it was clear that she had done something to rightfully deserve this, "If you aren't busy, would you like to join me?"
Cecil's grin only grew larger, "I would love to."
His obligations could wait another month.
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Da Vinci Museum
Cecil walked with a deadpan expression as he found himself walking alongside not just Elizabeth but also Professor Linden, Brother Keith, and General Noche.
"Is something bothering you?" Linden asked.
"What? Me? No... No, no. Why would anything be bothering me," Cecil replied with a cynical tone, "I was just under the assumption that a professor and a general would have busier schedules. Turns out they have more time to burn than I thought."
"I could say the same for you." Keith countered.
With his skill, Linden started analysing the cost of every single object he laid eyes on, even the material used to build this place. He then went on to say, "Well, there was no way I could pass up an opportunity to visit one of the most well-known museums in the world for free. Did you know a single visit to this place can cost a man's entire yearly salary?"
"And you need to stop talking about money." Said the brother as his eyed the professor.
General Noche was silent during their whole conversation. His eyes were too busy scanning all the unusual details he was spotting in this museum.
He was quite surprised to see that the hundreds of paintings here were all made by the same artist, in other words, this entire museum was dedicated to the work of a single man. A picture of Da Vinci's face is the first thing you see when entering this place so no wonder it's named after him.
But that wasn't the weirdest part. Noche had always assumed that painting were delicate artefacts. Objects that should treated with the highest levels of preservation. But there didn't seem to be any of that in this place. None of the paintings here had any sort of glass or gallery rope guarding it and even worst, all the museum goers were touching the paintings.
He observed a young couple who had their hands on one of the exhibits. The drawing depicted a burning village with a monster in the background. Their eyes seemed to be in a trance as if their minds were somewhere else. But then, the young couple suddenly jolted back, their arms shaking as they held onto each other for dear life. They were sweating and a feeling of adrenaline was rushing down their veins. However, their panicked faces soon turned into smiles as they faced one another and laughed.
"Ooooh, let's try that one." The couple spotted another painting and went towards it to join a small group of people who were lining up in front of it.
It seemed the museum staff even encouraged this behaviour as there were signs that said things like: "three at a time please".
Noticing Noche's confusion, Cecil snickered and said, "You have no idea who Da Vinci is, do you?"
"I'm afraid I do not." Said Noche.
"Then it might be easier to just show you." Said Keith as the group stopped by one of the paintings.
This painting depicted a pirate ship that was in the middle of a harsh rainy storm. Noche recognised that ship. It was an old ship that used to belong to the "Shining Pirates", a famous adventurer guild that liked to travel across the sea. They're still active today but under a different, larger ship. Noche had actually worked with the captain once in the past.
"Touch it."
He briefly glanced at his friends for a nod of confirmation before slowly approaching the drawing. It felt wrong to be touching a historic piece of art but even though Noche knew nothing about the origin of this place, he could tell these weren't ordinary drawings.
So he raised his hand and gently pressed his palm against it.
His eyes blinked on their own and suddenly he was on a pirate ship with harsh rain pouring down his clothes. To his amazement, he could actually feel his clothes getting soaked with water. The vicious wind and the intense rocking of the ship almost caused him to fall over. He looked around and saw the entire pirate crew, each one running around and attending to their different roles to maintain the ship's balance. He could hear the crew shouting commands at each other which was sometimes difficult to hear over the loud thunder that threatened to take down the ship. In the midst of all this chaos, Noche spotted two familiar faces.
The first one was none other than Da Vinci himself. Despite his old age, his body was well built and he was skilfully assisting the crew in maintaining the ship. Noche didn't expect that from a painter.
The second familiar face he saw was the captain of the ship, "Lucia: The Shining Lighthouse". Back then, she was only a C-rank adventurer and didn't even have a title. Compared to Da Vinci, Lucia looked incredibly young, especially for someone who's meant to be the captain. As always, her body was quite literarily glowing and she was zooming and dashing around the ship at an incredible speed.
She was leading the crew while simultaneously saving anyone who got pushed overboard by the storm. Even Da Vinci himself would have been drowning in the ocean if it weren't for Lucia grabbing him every time.
"INCOMING!" One of the cremates shouted.
Everyone looked up and saw one of the largest waves that Noche had ever seen. It was the type of wave that could easily drown an entire city. But that wasn't the most concerning part. There was something large inside the wave. The General couldn't see the full shape of the monster. All he could see were two giant glowing blue eyes.
"CAPTAIN! THAT'S AN A-RANK MONSTER! YOU CAN'T BEAT IT!"
Lucia stepped on top the bow of her ship. In her hand, was a large bisento. The length of her long spear like weapon was almost as tall as her and yet she held it with ease as if it was bamboo. She begun spinning her weapon rapidly until it was a complete blur and shining brightly.
There was no escaping from this, so the only choice left was to face it head on with a wide grin.
After what seemed like a direct collision with the wrath of the sea itself, Noche's mind was jolted back into reality as his fell back into the museum with all of his friends looking down at him. He felt his clothes, only to find that they were perfectly dry.
"If you're wondering how they survived, there are plaques that explain the entire story of each painting." Said Elizabeth as she lended Noche a hand.
He didn't need the plaque. Now that he thought about it, Noche did vaguely remember Lucia telling him a story like that. Apparently she lost against the sea creature and the only reason why they survived was cause one of her crew members had a rapid skill awakening which allowed them to barely escape. It was also the last time a human ever saw that creature according to the reports.
Noche slowly stood up, still a bit shaken by the experience, "H-how… is that…"
"They're known as Memory Paintings," the professor explained as he delved into a brief biography lesson. "Da Vinci's artistic journey began conventionally, with a skill tree focused on speeding up painting processes and reducing material requirements. However, his life took a transformative turn when he unlocked a skill that could weave memories into his creations. Although this skill had limitations and restrictions, Da Vinci dedicated the rest of his life to traversing the world. He collaborated with adventurers, generals, and numerous renowned figures, willingly dancing on death's doorstep if it meant filling another empty canvas."
It sounded as if Linden had copied and pasted that explanation from one of his own lectures.
Upon hearing about this, Noche looked around the museum and his appreciation for each one of the painting increased by tenfold. He saw a dark labyrinth filled with two headed centaurs monsters, a flaming war between two rival kingdoms, a blue mountain where air fish swam high up in the trees, a dessert made purely out of bouncy mushrooms, and so much more.
"Also, it's said that one of these paintings could lift a homeless person out of poverty for the rest of their life." It wouldn't be Linden if he didn't add at least one comment about money.
As the group discussed, several eyes from the public were locked onto them. They were used to this. After all, it wasn't everyday you got to see a General and one of the nine original heroes in one place. However, amidst the admirers, there were some who were giving Elizabeth a more distasteful look. They were also used to that too.
"Even though it's his memories, don't you think it's fascinating how you don't see the moment from Da Vinci's eyes," Elizabeth commented, "it's like you're watching a drama play from the inside."
"Oh yeah, I never thought about that," Said Cecil as he stroked his chin, it was a simple gesture and yet it was enough to melt the hearts of several rich girls who were stalking him, "and if you think about it, the visions allow you to see things that Da Vinci didn't even look at."
"How did his skill tree know which moment to record exactly?" Noche asked as he looked back at the painting with the pirate ship in the storm, "That seemed more like a small fragment of a bigger story."
"He didn't have control over that. Like I said, the skill itself was limited." Linden answered.
The group continued their leisurely stroll around the museum, only stopping when a painting seemed interesting to one of them.
"You know, back on Earth, we had something called a "camera" that could also record memories." Said Elizabeth.
"Really?"
"It wasn't as immersive as these paintings but the every day person could easily own one," Elizabeth tried her best to describe it to people who had never seen a modern world, "All you had to do was aim it and the camera would capture a moving picture of whatever it was looking at. No skills required."
The four men exchanged perplexed looks. A 'camera' would have been a priceless item, affordable only to the rich if it existed in Elacia.
Keith was the first to say what all the men were thinking, "The more I hear about this "earth" place, the more I start to think that your home world sounds more magical than ours."
"Oh trust me… it's really not."
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The Harmless Forest
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
My two knights were very sleepy today. So as we walked, I carried Cleric in my arms while Alfred rested on my head.
Nothing of note happened on the way. Nothing except my knights still taking the time to wave at "Tom" the tree. Oddly enough, I gradually became able to distinguish Tom from all the others, but just barely. The familiar tree actually followed us for a bit, as if expecting my knights to play again.
Alfred bluntly said "I'm too tired" while Cleric added a polite "maybe next time". Funny enough, Tom left us alone after that.
Finally, we reached the Puppet's house.
As I inspected every detail of the wooden structure, my mind wandered back to the discussion we had during the meeting back in Fake Town. We talked about many things during that meeting, one of which was:
"That house is a domain." Said the Samurai as we sat around the campfire. We had nothing to hide so we held the meeting in the middle of the village during dinner for anyone who was curious enough to listen in.
Upon hearing this, the Reaper instantly raised a questioning eyebrow, "Wait, really?"
The Scout frowned with his mouth half stuffed with meat as he too had the same question.
However, I had a different question, "What's a domain?"
"It's a very rare skill that only a handful of people have." The Reaper explained, "It's like having your own personal pocket dimension. Each domain is different depending on the skill tree. But I never knew they could exist outside in the real world. I thought that was meant to be the one common rule about all domains."
"Well you know how diverse skill trees can be. There's always at least one exception to every rule we to try make." Said the Samurai.
That's when another question popped up in my head, "Do any of you have domains?"
Both the Scout and the Sage shook their heads.
"I used to have one." The Samurai placed a bit of emphasis on the words 'used to', "However, it was more akin to a dungeon filled with monsters rather than a personal dimension with special benefits. It vanished once I completed it. But that was how I met this sentient weapon and obtained the special armour that the Sage and I are wearing."
The Samurai slightly raised her katana while the Sage pulled on her own clothes. You didn't need an appraisal skill to know that the battle kimonos that the Sage and the Samurai always wore were special. It might have been half the reason why the Sage was able to barely survive having a knife plunged into her neck.
Lily3209, who had been spectating the meeting, then asked, "So is the hair style-"
"Also part of the armour? Yeah! Yeah it is, actually." Answered the Sage as she ran her hand through her hair roughly. Despite messing it up a little, her blonde hair automatically fixed itself back into its original state. Even when she took off the hair tie, it would vanish and another one would replace it shortly after.
Seeing hair move on its own made her look pretty silly though.
"Oooooo, wow!" The Lily fake nodded slowly in amazement. It seemed that she and some others in the village had always wondered about that."It looks good on you."
"Aww, thank you. I was very weirded out by it at first but it kinda grew on me eventually." The Sage laughed nervously.
Returning to the topic at hand, I asked the Reaper if she also had a domain since she didn't shake her head before.
"I do, but..." The Reaper titled her head left and right, "it's a very weird example of what domains are suppose to be.'
"What do you mean?" I asked while I placed a second serving of meat on Alfred's tiny plate, "can you not use it or something?"
"No I can. In fact, everyone in this village has been using my domain, including you."
It took Alfred, Cleric and I a full moment to finally understand what she meant by that. The three of us perked up in realisation all at the same time:
"Your shadow portals?"
The Reaper nodded before taking another bite out of her dinner. She didn't seem very proud of it for some reason.
Eve9654, who had been listening the whole time, chuckled as she remembered a fond memory, "You should've seen the disappointment on her face when she first entered her domain and immediately got kicked out. It took her a while to realise she could put more than one entrance and use them like portals."
The Reaper rolled her eyes while some of the spectating villagers laughed as they too remembered the memory. The residents of this village do sure like to poke fun at the Reaper at every given opportunity, it seems.
"Any~ways," Yukari continued in an attempt to divert from the current subject, "as the Samurai was saying, if that house really is her domain, then that would somewhat explain how she was able to-"
My train of thought about domains was interrupted when I felt the Puppet pinching my cheeks. Alfred and Cleric sleepily waved.
After completing her 'greeting,' she glanced over my shoulder, her glass-like eyes scanning the entire patch of grass behind me. She was clearly searching for other people.
"Oh, umm, yeah, it's just me and my knights today," I clarified.
The Puppet remained silent, her gaze was rigid as always. It was impossible to tell how she felt about it just being me today, but regardless, she welcomed us in.
As we entered, my eyes couldn't stop themselves from looking in the direction of the basement. What I saw from touching that petal during my last visit still lingered deep in my mind. I didn't need to be a genius to realize that what I saw must have some correlation to those wooden dolls down there.
The Marionette instantly headed for the dining room to initiate another tea session.
In response, I promptly spoke up and said, "Umm actually-"
Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks. Mechanically, she turned around and faced me, causing me to instinctively swallow.
"If it's okay with you…" It was challenging to look her straight in the eye sometimes. "I would like to see your room for a second…"
The Puppet tilted her head as if confused by what I was asking for.
"Y-your room...upstairs..."
She tilted her head in the other direction, still appearing somewhat puzzled by my request.
Now it was my turn to be confused, "You know… the room upstairs with the...f-flower."
The Marionette instantly perked up at the word "flower." I found myself instinctively holding my breath as, for a brief moment, the Puppet did nothing but stare as she always does. But then, with a simple gesture of her arm, she welcomed me to take the stairs up to the second floor.
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...
During the meeting, the Samurai informed us about the brief private conversation she had with the Puppet in the basement during her visit. With that, we now knew two things. The dolls in that basement were indeed real humans and once you were a doll, the Puppet cannot reverse the transformation.
"I think I may have seen the… process. Or at least part of it." I finally shared to the group. I recounted about the petal I found during the last visit and how it seemingly teleported me to a different place when I touched it. Although 'teleport' may not be the right word to use since my body was still there. I stuttered as my body shivered at the memory, "I couldn't see much but I think I saw human adventurers... they were on the ground, writhing in pain. I heard their bones crack and their limbs were twisting in horrifying ways. I could hear their screams and... it was..."
I tried my best to describe it. It wasn't the most descriptive account but it still got the message across. Everyone was quiet. Some glanced at each for their thoughts while others briefly lost their appetite. Before we had a vague idea but now we had a very gruesome image of what might've happened to those humans down in the basement. The amount of pure agony that those humans must've went through before fully turning into a doll was quite terrifying for us to imagine. The next daunting thing to contemplate was what happens to your consciousness once you fully turn, do you die or are you forced to just sit there with no control over your own body, helplessly waiting for who knows how long? These disturbing thoughts ran through everyone's mind, all except one person.
"I honestly don't see what's the problem." The Reaper said bluntly with a blank look. "I say welcome her in."
The attention of the entire village was fixed on her now. No one seemed surprised to hear that from her. Ever since she saw that basement, it was clear that Yukari didn't care much about the fact that the Puppet might be a potential human murderer. On the contrary, that might even be what encouraged her decision in the first place.
The Reaper stared at the fire and remained completely unfazed, even with all the cautious eyes on her.
I've grown so used to her psychotic laughing and smiles to a point where her blank stares seem so much more scarier to me now. Because whenever she was like this, you knew she was dead serious.
The Scout was the first object as he spoke with a stern tone, "I know what you're thinking Reaper but we can't be sure she doesn't attack fakes either. There's just too little we know about her. We can't allow a potential risk into this village."
I got to hand it to him. Even though he's shy most of the time, he can get quite serious when it concerns the safety of the neutrals.
"She didn't attack when when any of us visited." The Reaper argued, "heck, the Summoner was just fine when she went in alone, wasn't she?"
"That's doesn't confirm anything."
"Sure it does. She seems perfectly friendly."
"She is a B. Rank. Creature. That allegedly puts her on the same playing field as Viridescent, and I don't think I need to remind you how you're last battle with that monster went."
I didn't need a reminder either. Even with brand new powerful skills and Alfred's evolution, we still weren't able to land a single scratch on that deer headed creature.
"But that's exactly my point," A dangerous smile appeared on her expression as she leaned in closer, her tone was soft yet sharp as if there was a hissing snake hidden in her throat, "If we can convince her to live here, she would be a valuable asset for the village. A powerful protector. Having a B-rank on our side means we don't have to worry about most threats out there."
"And what if she turns one of us into a puppet when the Samurai isn't looking?" The Scout countered, "You do realise we now have confirmation that the process is irreversible and incredibly painful."
"So a petal and a simple yes or no question counts as confirmation but three peaceful visits don't mean anything to you?"
The Sage nervously looked back and forth between the two arguing fakes, as if she was holding her breath, while the Samurai remained silent. I also didn't really know what to say or what else to add.
"I bet you're just grumpy because she forced you to socialise."
"That quite literally has nothing to do with this."
Some people chuckled at that. Despite the tense debate, it was nice to see that the Scout and the Reaper could still have some banter here and there to lighten up the mood.
"What about you, Summoner? Any thoughts?"
With just that one question, all the attention was now on me. After all, I was the one who discovered the Puppet in the first place. However, all I could say was:
"I... I don't know."
I kept telling myself I needed more time to think about it but it was starting to seem like I was never going to reach a solid conclusion no matter what, "honestly, even though I've met her three times now, I feel like I still don't know her any more than you guys."
One of the spectators, a Baron fake, turned to his brother and asked, "What do you think?"
"I feel like it's not our place to decide."
"Yeah but if it was up to you, what would you do?"
"Hmm... well..."
That's when things got a bit more talkative between the spectators. Everyone started questioning each other for their opinions. As expected, there was a lot of mixed responses. Some supported the Reaper while others were cautious like the Scout. However, the majority of them took a neutral stance, saying they'll agree with whatever the final decision might be as they too were unsure. I almost felt partially responsible for causing all this. Like me, I'm sure most of them were ready to welcome the Puppet after the second visit, but once I shared what I saw from touching that petal, they started having second thoughts.
"The flower…"
Everyone immediately stopped talking upon the hearing the Samurai speak. With just those two words, all eyes were on her now. It was silent as we waited for her to explain.
The Samurai slowly faced me and asked, "Are you sure it was a petal that gave you that vision?"
"Y-yeah, I think so."
"Well then it may be safe to assume that the flower in the Puppet's room may give you the answer that you need."
That's right. The Scout also said himself that the dead flower by the Puppet's bed was no ordinary flower. I had almost forgotten about it. None of us wanted to go near it when we first saw it. Considering it seemed to hold some level of sentimental value to her, we didn't want to risk starting a fight by accidentally breaking it. But since that petal I found was right near her house, it only makes sense that it must have a similar effect or at the very least, some correlation to this whole ordeal.
"It might be impossible to sneak past her though," said the Scout.
"You won't have to," replied the Samurai, "I feel as if you simply just need to ask her."
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…
The door opened by itself with the Puppet standing right behind my shoulder.
There it was. Right where it's always been. Even after all the times I've been in this room, I genuinely didn't think it would be this easy.
The solar slime balls we gave her. She had placed one of them right next to the vase. My two little knights approached the bedside table first and looked up at the withered flower with curious gazes. I softly told them to be careful as I slowly followed with the Puppet right behind me.
This was the closest I had ever been to the flower. Now that I had inspected it closer, I could see why the Scout realised it wasn't normal. Despite its colourless and decayed appearance, this flower was somehow still standing. The stem quietly remained upright, as if it was still barely alive.
The Puppet shifted her arm, causing me to flinched. For a split moment, I panicked because I thought I had angered her by doing something wrong. But to my surprise, she simply gestured her arm towards the flower as if she were saying "touch it". I hadn't even said anything since entering this room and yet she…
"A-are you sure?"
She nodded.
With her permission, my attention was drawn back to the small vase that held the flower. It felt as if merely breathing in its direction could topple it down. My hand trembled as I inched my finger closer to one of the petal. If I accidentally damage this flower, will the Puppet get mad and kill me? Or, worse yet, would she turn me into one of her dolls and lock me in the basement?
I didn't have enough time to contemplate that possibility because the moment my finger made contact, my eyes blinked on their own.
Suddenly, I found myself in a completely different place.
…
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…
"Samurai, you said you might know something about that Elizabeth fake in the flower field, right?"
The two Lily fakes went silent as soon as that topic was brought up. Her eyes were observing the small embers of light that jumped out the fire but it was clear her mind was clouded with something else, "Reaper… you seem to have a clue yourself, don't you?"
We all looked at the Reaper who was also staring at the fire, her expression deep in thought as soon as the flower Elizabeth fake was mentioned.
"It's more of a hunch rather than a clue," the Reaper admitted, "so in case I'm wrong, I'm curious to hear what you have to say about it first."
Once all the attention was back on the Samurai, she took in a very deep and slow breath, "Very well…"
That was the last topic we discussed before we decided to conclude the meeting. The discussion had taken up way more time than expected as it was now incredibly late so everyone slowly started heading to their respective huts to get some sleep. Both the Reaper and the Samurai stayed back to clean up for a bit.
At first, neither of them spoke a single word to each other. They were as quiet as the peaceful wind that surrounded them. Yukari packed up the leftovers into her shadow jacket while the Samurai focused on putting out the fire. The katana welder was the first person to finally speak up.
"Are you sure you're okay with the Summoner making the final choice?" Asked the Samurai, "after all, you had very strong opinions on the matter."
"Well the others seem to trust her judgment more than mine." Replied the scythe user, "So why not I guess. It's not like we have anything to lose anyway."
"I see…"
The fire was gradually getting dimmer and yet it continued to crackle, as if attempting to fill in the next moment of silence that followed. Fortunately, it didn't stay quiet for long as, this time, it was the Reaper's turn to ask a question.
"Hey Samurai?"
"Yes?"
"You agree with me, right?"
The Samurai didn't answer immediately. Instead, she took a brief moment to ponder her next few words.
"I do. But not for the same reason." Lily finally answered.
The fire let out its last few sparks of life before it was eventually put out.
The conversation ended there as the two of them continued cleaning up in silence.
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End Chapter.
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A/N:
I know I'm late by a month but Happy New Year everyone! I apologise for how long it took to write this one. Even though I was on holiday, my family went travelling a lot which always left me too exhausted to write.
Anyways, I experimented a bit with switching back and forth between flashbacks and present time, I do hope that wasn't confusing though. Also join the discord via the link on my profile if you want to keep track of my progress with future chapters.
Thanks for reading this far and thank you to all those who leave comments. Always a huge motivator, hearing your thoughts of each chapter.
This chapter was finished on the 21/01/2024 (I can't believe it's already been like two year since I first started this)
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Bonus Scene
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"I just want to remind everyone that I'm still the head of the village~" The Reaper casually added during the meeting when everyone was busy chattering about their opinions on the matter.
"Technically, I am." Eve9654 said with slick smile.
Yukari frowned at her, "Since when?"
"Since you almost got yourself killed... on several occasions."
The Reaper opened her mouth to protest at first, but after thinking about it, she stayed quiet.
"I'm also older than you."
"How do you even know that?"
"I don't know... just a gut feeling, I guess."
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:P
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A/N I'm thinking of adding a "Short bonus scenes" channel to the discord sever rather than awkwardly placing them at the end of every chapter. As well as a 'list of characters' channel with a bit of info on each one of them, like a character profile you know. Any thoughts on that? I'm still not too sure on that so I'll think about it and ask around. Anyways, bye!