Meryda opened the door, and the familiar smell made her smile. She turned to her puzzled friends and said, “I think my father made something amazing for dinner. Pork steak, with sauce and fries! I love that dish!”
She rushed inside, and her friends followed her, puzzled by the smell and the food the Explorers and Adventurers had on their plates.
Seeing them enter, the Guild Master shouted from a nearby table, “Take a table with your friends, Meryda! We are celebrating your safe return! Food is on me tonight! But you guys and girls can only drink water or juice! Beer is for grownups! Ahahaha!”
While Meryda and her friends sat at a table to taste that strange new food, with Meryda already salivating and cutting a piece of bread to dip in the sauce on the plate a servant brought to her, in the kitchen, Craydon Crawler was finishing his plate and looking at the strange fruit that Emid Basson was giving him.
Craydon struggled to remember, and it suddenly came to him. It was a Brot. It looked like an apple, but it was soft, squishy, and tasted like a strawberry. It was usually eaten raw, but people also made juice out of it.
As he was eating the strange fruit, Emid Basson said, “You are going home tonight, right, boss? Because tomorrow is your day off. We can take care of tomorrow’s lunch and dinner; don’t worry. We have dried fish to make lunch, and maybe for dinner, we can make this new dish again. What was it called? Pork steak on a plate with fries? Is that it? How did you think about creating such a tasty food?”
“Yes, that’s it. It is easy to make and fast, and it tastes good. I don’t know why I never made it around here, but it is not difficult. I suppose I never made it because I had other dishes that I could make as well. I just thought about something we could do in a hurry because I didn’t have time to think about what I could cook tonight. This fruit is rather good. The texture is strange for the way it looks, but it sure is tasty! I wonder if Meryda arrived or if she is still with her friends.”
A servant came from the main room, carrying a bunch of empty plates, and answered, “Meryda is there with her friends. The Guild Master invited them to have dinner and to celebrate Meryda’s safe return. Maybe you should try to escape while everyone is distracted and go home the moment Meryda finishes eating, or you are not going home tonight! A celebration is about to start, and they are shouting for more beer!”
Craydon got up after swallowing the last bit of Brot and asked, “Can you go tell Meryda to meet me in the stable? I just remembered we have some work to do tomorrow, so we must go home tonight.”
The servant nodded and went to the main room to deliver the message. While Craydon was opening the bottom door of the stove and trying to convince the sleeping lizard to come out, Vasir Rez was poking the bouncing Slime that was on the floor next to his feet, and when the Slime bounced faster, annoyed by the continuous touches, he grabbed one side of the Slime, and because the Slime kept bouncing, he ended up with a small piece of the Slime in his fingers.
Vasir Rez frowned and went to the stove. With Craydon looking at what he was doing, he carefully put the piece of Slime near the coal and moved his fingers to get rid of the gelatinous piece while making a marble out of it by using the heat coming from the coal and the movement of his fingers.
To Craydon’s surprise, the gelatinous marble turned into a hard marble, and he reached for it, with Vasir Rez wondering why he was staring at the marble, lost in deep thoughts. Craydon mumbled, making Vasir Rez even more curious. “This is strange… The outside layer is a bit hard, but it is soft inside. If I squash it… Yeah, it breaks, and it is soft inside. All Slimes get hard with heat?”
Vasir Rez shrugged and said, “Normally, they do. Slimes are almost indestructible, and only fire can damage them for good. They are dangerous because they can absorb everything. This guy might be good for us to get rid of the trash, but if we are not careful, we might end up with one less arm in the morning. If Meryda wants to keep it, she should not let it sleep in her room, or the Slime might snuggle next to her and eat her while she sleeps.”
“Okay… That would be really bad… It is better if I go through the back door, or I won’t go home tonight, considering the people outside are now singing!”
“Yeah, boss, go away, or they will get you drunk, and you will wake up tomorrow morning after sleeping on the floor again! Those guys get out of control when they drink too much!”
With a smile, Craydon went to the back door, not before glancing at the two Demons that were seated on the floor in a corner, eating the new dish with strange grins on their thin lips, as if they were tasting a delicacy.
At the stable, the young boy there helped Craydon prepare his horse by tying it to the open wagon that was leaning against a wall, as it often was every time Meryda and he were in the City.
After frowning and trying to remember how to control the horse with the reins, Craydon climbed to the seat, and the young boy gently pulled the horse’s mane, guiding him to the outside.
Meryda was already there with her friends, waiting for him, and after one last wave and the kids congratulating Craydon for another successful dish, he guided the horse along the main street to the North entrance.
The Guards stationed there greeted him and opened the gate. The big sun was already setting, but the smaller one was still shining brightly, giving off a light almost as if it were a bright sunset.
As they were riding outside the City, Craydon asked, “Do you know if that small sun also goes down? I don’t remember if there are nights around here.”
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“I think it will take two more hours, plenty of time for us to get home. I have a faint recollection of a gigantic moon, and if that is true, it means the nights are not dark like they used to be on Earth. It is cool, right? Bright nights, plenty of stars… Yup, this is a nice World. Even with the Monsters and weird animals.”
Something brushed the grass on their left, and Craydon turned his attention to it. Meryda also noticed, and when she looked at the tall grass, she saw a massive dark head with red eyes looking at her, which made her ask, “Talking about weird animals… What is that?”
As if to answer her, the massive animal took a few steps forward, stopped near the edge of the road, and sat on his back legs, looking at them. Meryda smiled and almost shouted, “You! What are you doing here, you cute thing? Dad, it’s that Bone Boar we saw when we came out of that cave! Do you think he followed us and was waiting for me until now?”
Craydon shrivelled, lost in those bright, menacing eyes that were staring at him, and answered, “I don’t know… Are you sure it is the same boar? It could be another, and considering that thing is the size of a cow, with all those bones making an armour and those big, pointy tusks…”
Meryda told her father to stop the wagon, and she signalled the Bone Boar to approach, already glowing slightly. As if to answer her Magic, the Bone Boar was also glowing. He slowly approached the wagon and walked next to them, looking at Meryda very attentively, and he nodded as if he were greeting her, making Craydon even more puzzled.
The horse became nervous, but with Craydon pulling the reins and the Bone Boar snorting as if he were telling the horse to be quiet, the horse calmed down, and they continued their voyage, straight to the little farm near a forest.
When they finally reached the small gate with a wooden and wired fence going all around the farm, Meryda jumped down from her seat and opened the gate for the wagon and the Bone Boar to enter. She happily walked next to the massive beast, caressing his bone armour while talking to him, making Craydon wonder why she seemed so happy to be next to such a scary animal.
When they got near the front of the house, Craydon guided the horse to the stable, while Meryda was walking next to the massive boar, showing him the place. The small garden that her mother started on the left side of the house, and she was taking care of, the chicken hen, the pig’s pit, and even the open field at the back of the house, with a few crops planted and growing, crops that she wanted to harvest and sell in the market when they grew enough.
Craydon returned, and while looking up at the massive head that was looking down at him, he asked, “Is he going to stay here? And where is he going to sleep?”
As an answer, the Bone Boar snorted, nodded at Meryda, and went to lie in front of the stable like a watchdog, making sure the horse was safe inside.
With a shrug, Meryda said, “I guess he already chose a spot. What about Lyzy and Jelly? Do you think they can sleep in my room? Lyzy will be nice to hug because this pretty lizard is very warm. I guess Jelly can sleep at my feet to keep me warm as well.”
“I would prefer if that weird Slime slept outside. I was told that Slimes can absorb everything, and you might wake up tomorrow morning without your feet because he absorbed them during the night.”
Meryda rubbed the gelatinous form on her arms and said with a smile, “No, this cute little thing won’t do any of that. Don’t ask me why or how I know this, but I am sure it is completely safe.”
Craydon stared at the Slime, thinking. Seeing his daughter so sure, even if she looked different in that new body, was enough to make him sigh. “Alright, I couldn’t ever convince you when you were so sure about things. Do you remember why we have this farm? Because if I am working as a cook at the Guild, and you are often there, why do we have a farm?”
“Well, I could be wrong, but I have the faintest memory that the previous Meryda’s mother owned this farm. She grew up here, and she inherited this farm when her parents died. I think Monsters killed them during an attack. They came from that forest at the back one night. I remember her telling Meryda it happened when she was nineteen years old, two years before she started dating you. You two were childhood friends, but you were in your house with your parents when that happened. You often came here to help her out, and things kind of developed from there. She told me, I mean, Meryda, that you took forever to say you loved her!”
“Now that you mention it, it does sound about right. Well, maybe it’s better if we get ready for bed. Do we have toothbrushes and toothpaste around here?”
With a grin, Meryda said, “Yup. Pig’s urine and a soft stick. Do you also want a blow-dryer and a warm jacuzzi to relax?”
“No… I just… right, we are not on Earth any more… So, what do we use to brush our teeth?”
“Rough linen cloths together with a powder to whiten teeth and preserve fresh breath. The powder has dried sage, rosemary, and mint. If I recall correctly, we have those herbs in the garden, and I make the powder for us to use. My friends and I sell that powder at the market once a week, together with other stuff they make or hunt. So, unless you are about to create some sort of revolutionary toothbrush and paste, I am going to brush my teeth with what we have and go to bed. Good night, dad!”
…
After Meryda went to her room, Craydon went to the bathroom. He stared at the mirror and sighed. “This is going to take a while for me to get used to my reflection. These strange ears, and this tail that has a mind of its own… Sophia… I mean Meryda… She doesn’t seem to mind. Now, where are my linen cloth and the powder…”
The moment Craydon Crawler opened the drawer under the mirror closet, he touched the mirror with his hand, and as he looked at his supposed reflection, he saw his Human reflection, staring back at him, as puzzled as he was.