Day 5 part 5
It is very dark now, almost midnight. I'm leading the kids toward the village. I had to tear off a vine and have each hold it, so they don't get lost.
They seem more scared of the night than me, a refreshing change.
I stop them outside the village before entering alone. I don't know the rest but the twins seemed benign. I peek into homes and around the village. I find the right place easily enough, I found them through the stolen permafrost statue. I can sense it slightly when it is in range of my power.
It is enshrined in their home. Weird. They're treating it like an idol... bright flowers and a basket of fruit stand at the base of the figurine. The girls are sleeping. How do I do this gently? I don't want to frighten them off...
I don't know these people or their culture. I don't know anything about them beyond their level of technology and most of the language. They could be hostile to foreigners or even cannibalistic. The steel tools suggest trade however as I saw no forges or smithies inside the village. The children certainly aren't of the same culture, the clothes and accents are different.
I move the statue, making it into a seemingly living puppet. For some reason it feels very familiar to me.
I have the tiny man pick up a flower from the altar and then climb into the younger sister's bed. She was the level-headed one I think. The mattress of woven grass fibres is thin, and lies on the ground so this isn't hard.
The flower stroking her face doesn't really rouse her. So I have it go further down the mattress and try harder on her neck. She shivers, probably the flower is starting to get chilled. Fine, if it has come to this... I have the statue shove a hand onto her chest just long enough to elicit a response.
She is startled by the cold and whimpers as she pulls away but remains sleeping. Huh. They sleep nude around here... interesting. I scrutinize the sight but this has no effect on me physiologically, yet my mind is different. I do not feel how I should feel and this confuses me. My mind it seems is going haywire, desire to mate among other things clashing with my natural instincts... why would I consider the girl in front of me a valid partner? Why do I have an attraction to the breasts...?
I have the statue attack again, fascinated by the reactions.
Finally she shivers strongly and wakes up.
She notices the statue touching her and freezes in shock.
I have it bow and offer her the flower.
She seems only a little less concerned by this.
“Liranna... wake up.” She says loudly. No 'Oneechan'?
“Huh? Mina doesn't usually call me that...” The older sister says blearily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. So it wasn't just strange to me, either...
“The Tarnag is alive.”
“Don't be silly Mina, it must have fallen...”
The statue waves.
“Ah! Its alive!” [Liranna]
I have the figurine walk out the door, motioning them to follow.
The younger one proceeds after lighting a torch, the older one however shouts to the sleeping village.
“THE TARNAG IS MOVING! THE GOD OF ICE WATER WAKES!”
Okay, I wasn't expecting... everyone to appear. Somewhere close to several hundred people converge on the yells, from children to the elderly. How devoted are they to this piece of ice?!
I lead them, crawling through the forest to avoid the dim torchlight. The statue taking a slow march.
I don't like the silence of the crowd.
The little man eventually leads them to the stolen children who are for the most part, scared out of their wits. The boys bawl. The girl just hides behind her brother. They're scared of the crowd. The girl is however quite impressed by my ice figurine and as she points it out the boys realize it is the same ice as before.
“They must be a sacrifice...” Someone in the crowd whispers.
“Yes. We were lead to them.”
“It seems to be the reason.”
I can only change that through tricks...
A few people approach to grab the kids. The statue stops and turns to glare at them. Then from itself a trio of figurines, representing the children grow and shape. They each stand in front of the kids.
Ability: Ice Sculpture (Inferior) rank up to Ice Sculpture (Superior)~
“Look, the Tarnag has chosen them as his messengers...”
I make a few more to point out who I trust. A set representing the twins and a further one of Yumi.
Ability: Human Language (Moderate) rank up to Human Language (Complete)~
“The Gleaming Hero has chosen the daughters of Huma Gian as his priestesses!” An older man announces to the agreement of the crowd.
The twins seem to be quite proud of this. Since I do owe them for being vaguely useful I let it be. But Gleaming Hero? That sounds... unusual. There must be more to this than I know.
The older man looks closer at the statue of Yumi. His eyes widen. “The Quiet Lady of the sea is also a Herald!”
Unless of course she was only ever seen stalking people...
I seem to have met my goals at least, the kids should be treated well since as far as I can see the mass of people is smiling.
So I withdraw the original figure to myself as I reach the nearest bit of coastline, a cliff. I want it back.
This triggers the villagers to follow and the kids as well. Damn.
There is a gasp as they look at me.
“The demon has come! It comes to kill us but the Gleaming Hero will stop it!”
“Aid the Hero!”
They start throwing rocks.
The rocks stop as the kids rush over and stand in the way.
“Don't hurt him!” The little boy shouts. “He saved us!”
“Yeah, he made the statues!” The older boy adds. The honey thief.
The girl also stands there silently with a determined look beside her brother, the younger boy.
I'll see how this goes... if the worst comes I'll jump and take the kids with me. Kids like scary rides, right? A permafrost slide will make it soft enough...
“The Guardian Demon made the Gleaming Hero?!” The older man who seems to be an authority figure exclaims.
“He isn't a demon!” The younger boy replies. “He fed us, he rescued us and he brought us here on a boat made of ice! The same kind as that statue!”
“Hey... how did those sisters get the Gleaming Hero anyway?” Someone in the crowd asked.
“Liranna, explain how the Hero was found!” Another demands.
“Well... you see... I don't exactly know... I only found out about it after I rescued Mina...” The older twin tries to explain.
“Mina. How did you find it?” The old leader asked pointedly.
“I saw that place between the rocks, the one I guided some of the others to later. Inside the bars was only a single statue. I grabbed it, but it was stuck to the ground so I tried to pull and it came loose.” [Mina.]
“There were four statues when we looked, and they couldn't be budged with a hammer and chisel!” A young man states.
“There were new statues? What were they of?” The Elder asked curious.
“Actually, I think they were of these two sisters and the Quiet Lady... just like these ones just now... and another of the Gleaming Hero.” [The burglar]
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“A replacement?!” The elderly man turned to Mina. “You say the statue just 'came loose'?”
“Yes, I wasn't even pulling on it at the time...” [Mina.]
“So something let it go?” The old leader thought about this before asking. “So what happened next?”
“I saw the Guardian, it was in the cage...” [Mina.]
“This creature?” [Elder]
“Like it, but smaller...” [Mina.]
“What did it do?” [Elder]
“It watched me.” [Mina.]
“It did not attack?” [Elder]
“...no.” [Mina.]
“So what did you do then, to aggravate it?” [Elder]
Her face is turning red. “I...I tried to escape... but my hand got caught in the bars.” [Mina.]
“Why was that?” [Elder]
“I'm not sure...” [Mina.]
“Elder, I might know the answer...” The young, attempted burglar replied. “The bars are not very wide, it would not be hard to get a hand stuck in there, especially because the statue is too wide to go through the gaps.”
“If that is the case, how did you get it free?” [Elder]
“I don't know.” Mina replied worried.
“Did the bars break?” [Elder]
“They seemed to move...” [Mina.]
“I can say the bars were straight and unbroken when we went down.” The young man added. “Nor could we break them with rocks or hammers.”
“So something released the statue for you, then moved the bars so you could take it?” [Elder]
“...I think so.” [Mina.]
“Then what happened?” [Elder]
“Well I was afraid at the time because the demon was moving, so I tried to go to the surface but I let go of most of my air when I was trapped and...” [Mina.]
“Wait. So the bars only moved because you were going to drown?!” The Elder remarked, surprised. “So the something that gave you the statue moved the bars to save you?”
“It might be.” [Mina.]
“I see. So you are close to drowning, you have the Gleaming Hero and you are swimming to the surface. What was the Guardian doing?” [Elder]
“...it was following me...” [Mina.]
“It escaped the cage?!” [Elder]
“Elder... it was not in the cage when we went there...” The young man again.
“The girl almost didn't see it, how do you know this?” [Elder]
“... we threw spears in first.” [Idiot burglar]
“So you tried to kill the Guardian?” [Elder]
“Um... yes, but only because we heard it was trying to kill the sisters...” [Idiot burglar]
“That remains to be seen.” The Elder added, annoyed. “So the Guardian can leave the cage at will...” he mused. “I see... so Mina, what happened to you then?”
“It grabbed me.” [Mina.]
“It caught you? It tried to drag you down?” [Elder]
“Um... no... it pulled me to the surface...” [Mina.]
“Oh? So the Guardian saved you from drowning? If we consider it released you from the bars, it might even have saved you twice...” The old man mused. “So if it was saving you, why did you think it was attacking?”
“The touch was colder than even the Gleaming One and it touched me... everywhere and with roughness that I couldn't resist.” [Mina.]
“...the Guardian has a chill touch?” The Elder looked at the children and Liranna. “Is that true?”
“We don't know, he never touched us... but isn't the air colder near him?” The older boy replied. “He does so many things with ice, too.”
“The touch was so cold it was unbearable...” Liranna added. “It numbed my hand completely...”
“Did it numb you?” He asked Mina.
“Uh... no... not like that...” [Mina.]
“So why did it do this to your hand, Liranna?” [Elder]
“I might have thought it was hurting Mina, I tried to free her with a knife...” [Liranna.]
“Oh ho ho. Now we have some very interesting developments. It defended itself, without hurting you? Does it always avoid hurting people?” [Elder]
“No.” The older boy stated. “It came to rescue us from bad men. It killed them all. We heard from the bottom of the ship...”
“So it discriminates victims from villains?” The Elder seemed pleased.
“But it grabbed me too!” Liranna objected. “It did horrible things to us!”
“...because you both stubbornly considered it hostile.” [Elder]
“Umu...” She whined despondently, unable to reply.
“...and then?” The Elder demanded.
“It... carried us to the boat and pushed and writhed until... I... I don't want to talk about it!” The older twin replied ashamed and bright red in the face.
“So it carried you to the boat and then... it pushed you in as best it could?” [Elder]
“It wasn't like that!” [Liranna.]
“Did it put you in the boat?” [Elder]
“...yes.” [Mina.]
“If you consider the actual touching, isn't just because it found you pretty?” [Elder]
The sisters looked at each other and their gazes become kind of hollow, as if they had been broken by something.
“It might be...” [Mina.]
“Must be...” [Liranna.]
“It even stole my underwear... and the statue; it was touching my chest...” [Mina.]
“So if we consider this Guardian to be the source of the statues and unbreakable ice...” [Elder]
“Impossible!” The burglar snapped.
Permafrost Spear activated~
I stab it into the stone ground, to make a point.
“You were saying?” [Elder]
“I was wrong...” [Idiot burglar]
“So we can safely assume that rather than the idol, the Gleaming Hero is in fact the Guardian.” [Elder]
“What?!” The majority of the crowd screams. A few of the smarter people are however nodding along at the logic.
“The idol is just a toy the Guardian made as an amusement. The Guardian is the representative of the god of Ice Water.” [Elder]
“...and it chose us...” The older twin said quietly to the younger with awe.
“We're so lucky...” [Mina.]
I offer the spear to the older twin, who gingerly takes it, shivering at the touch but hugging it tight. For the younger sister I form a bracelet, covered in flower designs. The crowd oohs and aahs at the sight. Mina accepts it gracefully.
“He has clearly provided the bride price!” Someone shouts.
“But both of us...?” [Mina.]
“As long as it is you, I don't mind sharing.” [Liranna.]
A long distance away someone with an eerily familiar voice burst into creepy laughter.
What we learned this episode (and we did learn a lot):
Newton's laws of gravity still apply.
The Elder is clever and wise.
The burglar and most of the others haven't realized they attempted to kill their saviour, yet.
The twins are developing a cold fetish...
Not even time and space will keep Yumi's delusions from fruition.
Harem ero game logic is insane.
Because people are having trouble following dialogue I'll make it clearer who is speaking, if they are important enough; otherwise they're random crowd members. Squid internal dialogue is now inside < > marks
Most description and lines not marked as dialogue are squid thinking/responding internally. He cannot talk to people at all. He may not for a while...
Next chapter will be silliness mixed with plot.