- Shari -

Surprisingly there are no problems on our journey.

We travel as far as possible during the day and the humans take turns in driving the carriage.

I cannot help with this as I don't know how to do this, and the horses would freak out if I came too close.

When it gets dark, we stop at the side of the road and prepare a camp.

I'd rather get quickly to our destination before we get attacked, but there's no choice.

Point is that the living beings in our group have certain biological issues.

For example, the horses need to rest at times.

The same goes particularly for Anvenia, who is not used to any hardships.

She's troubled to sleep in the shaking carriage.

Also, we need to prepare meals and perform other necessary actions to keep going.

Two days we spend like this.

I try not to talk too much to not provoke Alec or the maid in any way.

Yet I banter a little with the others to keep myself occupied and to remind them that I'm not some silent monster waiting to ambush them.

But in general, I already have enough to deal with because of Liqu.

* "Yes?" (Liqu)

* "I wasn't really talking to you." (Shari)

* "To who were you talking then?" (Liqu)

* "Not important." (Shari)

I quell Liqu and join the others in their preparations for tonight's camp.

The girl gets a small tent, while the others sleep in the open.

I'm not too troubled with this, as I'm my own cushion.

The only thing troubling me is how much I adapted to my situation by now.

Tsk, and now I have to send some clear mental signals before Liqu thinks something out loud that I don't want to hear.

But it could be worse.

After the second night, the group stopped being apprehensive of my presence.

I guess they couldn't be on edge all the time.

So they dropped their guard.

Which, funnily enough, comes through during guard duty.

They didn't want to take me up on my offer that I'd be the only one who stays awake because I don't need to sleep.

But the others were apparently a bit uncomfortable with the idea.

To a degree, I can understand them, since my attention might have wavered after some time.

Especially, while I have to deal with Liqu's input.

At least I'll act as if that was the reason and not because slimes are unable to focus on constant vigilance.

Today it's Alec's turn to be on watch in the middle of three shifts.

That's a particularly unpopular position as that one cannot get any real sleep.

However, he suddenly speaks to me, as I'm naturally awake.

"I need to take a piss. Can you watch for a moment?" (Alec)

See?

That's almost abnormal.

Not only that he's speaking to me so casually, but also that he's leaving others' lives in my hands, or slime appendages, or however you want to call them.

Though maybe he simply doesn't care for them.

"Sure. Try not to get attacked. You wouldn't want to have a Felira jump at you with your pants down." (Shari)

"Not my first time outside the estate. I'll manage." (Alec)

With this, he vanishes behind the trees.

* "You know, I don't like him. His soul is bad news." (Liqu)

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Right, whenever I'm looking at people, especially their eyes, I feel like I'm seeing some kind of faint hue.

Something like a vague indicator about how that person is in general without any deeper insight into their character.

Liqu mentioned before that she could see souls, so that must be what I've been noticing.

There's something like a hint of black ooze I perceive around Alec when I look at him, though it's by no means as strong as the impression I got of Cid back then.

* "I can see it too, but we shouldn't believe to know what someone is up to only because he gives off bad vibes. Think about Chris." (Shari)

On the other hand, the issue I'm talking about is that there was nothing indicating what Chris planned to do until it was too late.

And that's the very problem.

Chris was an asshole, but he was an honorable asshole who did what he believed to be right.

In his view, we were vile monsters and he was justified, hence he wasn't evil and there was no vibe to warn us of any nefarious acts because they simply weren't recognizable as such.

Because of this, I stopped relying on the impression I get from people's souls.

It's simply not possible to know what they're up to if they have issues or hold a justified grudge, which is all too often the case.

So I'm fine without reading another's soul.

Seems like Alec either has problems releasing water, or he's up to bigger business, as he takes his sweet time till he returns.

"Thanks. I needed that." (Alec)

"It's not like anything happened." (Shari)

I try not to look too scrutinizing because he might get into a bit of trouble for leaving his post for so long.

"If you want, you can now rest as well." (Alec)

"How many more times do I have to say this? Slimes don't need any sleep. I can endure fine without. Especially now with Liqu to bother me constantly." (Shari)

"Sure... Then just stay," (Alec)

He goes back to his place and finally does his job.

And I can only sit as usual.

At least things start to look brighter.

After Alec, it's Zeon's turn for the rest of the night.

Weirdly he does the one thing I didn't expect and sits down next to me.

"Hi." (Zeon)

Oh my, a smile that could make a thousand women unhappy.

I, fortunately, don't feel any such urges anymore and can prevail.

"I've just noticed that we've barely ever talked." (Zeon)

"That might be because everyone has this little prejudice that I'm a murderous maneater and will be the demise of you all." (Shari)

"Nah. It's fine. We all have our burden to carry." (Zeon)

"Did you know that I used to be human? Can you even imagine how it is to lose this? Talk about carrying a burden." (Shari)

He stares for a while vacantly.

His expression doesn't look as surprised as I would anticipate it to be after such a revelation, so he might've heard about it somewhere.

Or he just doesn't know what to do with this information.

"You know, if you have a magical affinity, people become apprehensive of you. It's a dangerous combination of envy and worry what you might do with such a power. So it's not like I can't relate." (Zeon)

"Are you seriously comparing a little discrimination with losing your own body, getting hunted down, and having to deal with ­that one?" (Shari)

I point at the place where Liqu's core is currently located.

* "Hey!" (Liqu)

* "You know exactly what I mean." (Shari)

"Sorry. I didn't mean to downplay it." (Zeon)

Another super smile.

This time an apologetic one.

Argh, I can't continue being moody.

"It's okay. My fault. I'm just always getting a bit sour if it's about this topic. Magic is kind of idolized. How humans bend the world to their will. I'm only the thing people find in the sewers. So yes, I truly believe I'm worse off than you with your shiny lightning attacks." (Shari)

"But I don't believe you're a monster. You think far too much about it for that to be the case. And you're even trying not to harm others. I think that's amicable." (Zeon)

"I have to. I can't even touch someone. One wrong thought and this person might lose a good chunk of their flesh. It doesn't differentiate between friend or foe. Everything is just sustenance." (Shari)

"I shocked my mother." (Zeon)

"Ehm, what?" (Shari)

"An element is not easily controlled. Especially not by a child. And the lightning element is particularly wild and erratic. I discharged continuously and whenever I touched anyone they got a shock. And those only got more powerful the more I grew up. It became dangerous. At least you can believe me that I know how it is to feel like a threat to those you hold dear." (Zeon)

Yes, okay.

I might not be the only one in the world who has problems.

"The worst is that this made me reject my very nature. Lightning is a part of me but I was conflicted to ever use it again. This contradiction almost broke me." (Zeon)

"You're telling me about fighting your own nature? I'm the prime example for this." (Shari)

"I just wanted to say, while your case might be special, there are others who have experiences that aren't completely different from yours." (Zeon)

"Fine. You can understand my point, a bit. I’ll give you that. But I still win the pity contest." (Shari)

"Sure. Absolutely. Your win." (Zeon)

He chuckles a bit and I do the same.

At least I try to, but it turns out as some weird surface shivering and bubbles rippling through my surface.

I may not like Zeon's element, but I think I'll have to admit that he's a good guy.