The changing room saw plenty of hot mist cascade the air already. The minerals known as the ‘heated stones’ were responsible for maintaining the sauna-like temperature in this vast room.

It was almost too large to be a normal changing room.

The wooden-architectural theme continued here. Shaved pine logs held up a second floor above, which oversaw the entire bath ahead like a balcony. Directly on the other side of the wall, which was built like a log cabin, was the men’s area. Given the material used, they could just vaguely hear the other two.

At least only Frost could with her immaculate hearing abilities.

Piles of clothes and shelves of abandoned apparel littered the place. It was a treasure trove for equipment, which Frost vowed to search through afterwards. In the meantime, everyone including herself stripped down.

She did so in front of a long mirror that spanned the entire back wall with Jury by her side. Jury, who had never seen her own body in this light before, seemed rather impressed with herself. It was also a source of awe for Frost, who only now just realized how… well, ‘gifted’ Jury was in all aspects.

Frost on the other hand?

“… they don’t get in the way, so that’s a bonus in of itself.” She said upon looking at herself in the mirror, cupping the sides of her small mounds. “… what a weird sensation. I don’t even know how to describe it. But it’s… nice I think?”

She deeply sighed and burnt the image into her mind.

She was beautiful to say the least. Ungifted in certain areas but beautiful, nonetheless. It was her face and eyes that stood out the most to her. Its golden, glowing color was seldomly found anywhere else.

The story of Narcissus might not be so far fetched anymore. I’d fall for those eyes myself. Not bad. That’s a 10/10 in my books.

“You realize I can hear you?”

Yes I do. By the way, do I get any privacy in my own mind?

“I’m using your head space. Your words are similar to the voices of the Corrupted to me, so I can hear every single one of your train of thoughts.”

… I take that as a solid ‘no’ then.

Her body was also pristine without a single scratch to be found as expected of a healer. Furthermore, her skin was healthy color throughout and even her hair seemed like it had some sort of magical properties.

The bath felt redundant all of a sudden. Cleanse was all she really needed. But then again… a bath was more so for the relaxation aspect, which was not something Cleanse could replicate.

Also, Frost and Jury were not so foolish to leave their Corrupted apparel here unattended. They brought them into the vast bath house, which was built like a giant shared swimming pool.

“It’s soooo goooood!” Someone melted into the bath.

“Hmmm~! It’s been so long! We never had this kind of luxury as slaves.” Another pointed out.

“Jury! Jury! Show me your tail! What’s this on the end?”

“A budding organ. I don’t know much else either – ah!? That tickles!” Jury suddenly yelped as she placed her apparel beside Frost’s.

They then both slipped into the warm bath simultaneously.

“… Oh… this is… nice…” Frost also melted away, sinking until only half her head remained above the misty water.

Unbeknownst to her was the rather… girly voice she made. The deep voice she paraded disappeared in that instant, drawing all sorts of eyes towards her.

“… what…?”

“Hmm~! For someone so strong, you have a rather cute side to you as well!” Hellen commented.

“Ugh… please don’t call me ‘cute’. But thanks. I appreciate the sentiment.” Frost took mental damage from that.

She was used to being called darling, sweetie and sonny by her patients back on Earth. But not once had she ever been called cute.

“It’s so warm… do people sleep in these?” Jury had to ask.

“If you want to drown then go right ahead.” One of the broods said bluntly. “It’s strange, isn’t it? This place used to be filled with tens of people. Could reach a hundred people at times. Now it’s all empty and silent. Isn’t that eerie?” This was a different feline woman who spoke.

It was the same one who screamed out their lungs from the traumatic event prior to being rescued by the Anids. These women had no names and were only called by whatever race they were, effectively de… humanizing them? Frost didn’t know how else to describe this.

In a world that wasn’t only inhabited by Humans, it would be strange for these sort of words to exist, let alone the meaning of ‘humanity’.

“Kind of like kenophobia. I get what you mean.” Frost nodded. “But I think we shouldn’t harp too much on those things. Just relax… just sink into the bath and… ah, so this is what it’s like to want to sleep.” She suddenly trailed off.

Jury suddenly moved behind her and embraced her. Frost’s head naturally fell onto Jury’s bosom, a natural pillow.

“Soft… Yes?”

“You can sleep if you want.”

“Ah Sorry… I didn’t mean it literally. But thank you.” Frost smiled up at the woman, who could only stare down at her with absolute sincerity.

It was rather amusing for them to see Frost like this.

“You’re strange. You have all that strength and you’re here spending time with people like us.” The battle-axe woman, whose name was revealed to be Anna, spoke through a curtain of brown hair. “Unlike a certain someone!” She raised her voice intentionally for Furio to hear on the other side, resulting in a loud bang.

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Frost stifled a laugh.

“Well, it was my passion back in my homeland to help people in need. I don’t see why it would be any different here.” She began before pausing momentarily. “…But even with all the strength I have it’s impossible to save everyone. The technology we had back in my homeland was still not enough for to save everyone as well. But I think what matters the most is that we tried.”

“I like to think so as well. Saving everyone isn’t… possible in places like these. Grandis, the entire west, and the far south of our continent is screwed up.” The bee-woman admitted. “Take our region in Gnawer for example! It’s war, war, and war! You got the Ants and the Bees fighting, the Wasps and the Dragonflies biting, and then the Spiders and the damned Scorpions eating each other up. You are expected to die as an Insectid during wartime… sorry. I got a little too excited.”

“Don’t be~” The fox-eared woman soothed.

“It must be hell over there.” One of the women uttered something interesting.

Does the concept of hell exist in this world? Frost wanted to know.

“Indeed it does. So does the heavens, although that belongs to the Nexus. It is called the Celestial Heavens by many for a reason. Hell is synonymous with eternal torment. Whether such a place truly exists or not is unknown.”

Hell huh… hardly different from what we’ve seen so far in Grandis. Corrupted. Persecution… all this madness here. Cer’s spite towards the world below makes so much more sense now.

Frost could only blow bubbles in response. She wondered how those triplets were doings… no, rather, she wondered if they suffered something similar in the same veins as these slaves. They were Demi-humans after all, and their spite wouldn’t just be targeted to the world below simply because they were Blessed.

She eventually purged these thoughts and submerged herself entirely under water.

Their conversations went on. It was interesting listening to their lives. Hellen used to be a bard who travelled with her nephew a while back, who also happened to be a bard. Anna the battle-axed woman used to be a farmer before the wars ravaged Grandis. As for Via, well, she was just following wherever the wind took her.

But Frost knew that she lived according to the Script.

“Via, you’re actually quite smaller than Frost. Hehe.”

“Hehe? You’re… kind of creepy, you know that?” Via frankly said to the cat-eared woman.

“Oi. C’mon. If hair isn’t the life blood of a woman, then it’s their chest.”

“For you it is. For every other reasonable person? Anything but those.” Anna sharply retorted, but she seemed somewhat… pleased about this. No, she was puffing out her large chest like she was a proud bird.

“I’ll never understand you people.” The other, more depressed cat-girl sighed. “How much longer are we going to stay here?”

“Until nighttime?” Hellen teased.

“Do you want to become all wrinkly!?” She exclaimed.

“No, but I’m sure it’s better than being out there in the cold. Relax~”

“… is it really ok to be that carefree? When we all almost died… and so many others had their skins taken off? It’s horrible. Living your whole life to be brought up as a pet for an uncaring family, then thrown off to be sacrificed without a second thought…” She vented and was close to the verge of tears.

“… that’s the same story for most of us.” Another uttered. “But it’s not like you can change the past.”

“No. No you can’t. Hey.” Frost slowly scooted over to the girl’s side and gently spoke. “How do you feel right now?”

“… warm, why?”

“Try to focus on this warmth. Try to think about this moment. Can you do that for me?” She said, gently holding onto the girl’s hand.

One by one, the other broods slowly surrounded the girl for comfort. Frost had dealt with patients similar to her, but none with a trauma quite like her. Every single word was a potential landmine.

Words were like magic. But they had their limits, and they had their curses.

“… I can try. Um… hmm. I like it.”

“Good. It’s because you’re safe right now. So it’s ok to be carefree in this moment. I guarantee it. It must have been awful. But no one’s here to hurt you anymore so – smile.” When she said this, a few of the women swooped in to embrace the pained girl.

Frost could not imagine the pain of going through all of that. Where hers was mostly physical, this girl’s was a horrific blend of all kinds since birth. That sort of pain was not easily repaired by words alone.

It was just a temporary measure. In the end, there was truly little that Frost could do.

And it pained her.

“… I’ll try. Thank you.” She managed to smile to their surprise.

But it was at this moment that something strange happened.

< [Remember] >

The sound of a camera shutter caused Frost to instantly throw herself towards her clothing. A wave of water exploded in the wake of her movement as she threw on her coat she ordered:

“There’s a Corrupted somewhere in here! Get to the changing rooms!”

Jury instantly rushed to her mantle as the women quickly rushed away in a fit of panic. Her eyes scoured the entire place in search of this Corrupted but found nothing until she spotted something in the corner of the room.

A spider. A tiny, fist-sized spider what was clad in pale fur. As inconspicuous as it was – it was far from any normal spider. Because instead of eight beady eyes, the creature only had one eye which was in the bizarre shape of a camera lens.

Our Happiest Moments

< We must never forget them >

LEVEL : 25 AFFINITY : Hope ORIGIN : Trauma HP : 100 MP : 100 AGI : 1,500 ATT : 0 MAG ATT : 0 ATT DEF : 0 MAG DEF : 0

This was the Corrupted they met earlier. For it to be a spider of all things made some sense considering it first appeared in that Anid-infested forest. Although the name of the creature baffled her to no end.

Either way, it was a Corrupted. There was no telling what damage it was capable of.

“My parameters conclude it is a Trickle threat-leveled Corrupted. No need to be alarmed.” Nav insisted.

A Corrupted is a Corrupted – wait… it’s gone?

It disappeared before her very eyes. It just… vanished.

“1,500 AGI… That’s too fast.” Jury muttered. “Huh? Where did it go!?”

Something then fell from the very same corner. Frost did not waste any time and caught the paper-looking object before it could touch the ground. If it was anything like the Listening Bird’s ability, then deaths were inevitable.

However –

“… this is… a polaroid?” Frost could hardly believe the object she held in her hands.

The slippery, square-shaped object even had an image on it. When Jury approached and glanced down at it, she cocked her head and wondered what it was.

“A blank piece of paper? Is it dangerous?”

“Wait, you don’t see it?” Frost’s voice was filled with immense shock when she realized that Jury couldn’t see the picture at all.

“See what?”

“The picture of her?” Frost pointed towards the cat-eared girl.

In the photo was a much younger version of the girl. And surrounding her was what Frost presumed to be her family. Not her human masters, but her real, blood tied family.

< Captured Memories >

< Hold them dear. Hold them close. And never let them burn away >