Hello! Useless author here! I'm currently trying to rewrite everything, meaning that all the content in the chapters will soon* be completely changed, my desire to bang my head against a wall will increase and the synopsis will certainly get a little face-lift aswel. So if you had previously read the chapters or about to do it, just forget. Thanks for the attention.
*take note that the meaning of the word 'soon' is extremely relative, could be a month, three months, half a year...Dependent on my ability to write something of acceptable quality which is extremely uncertain.
Chapter 4: Samples, Not so happy tree friends and A flying log?
After we could finally settle down from our localised outbreak of hilarity, we discussed lightly around the tea tasting like camomile Moss served us and the little biscuit he made as assortments.
Despite his look and his occupation he sure can receive guest. still out of context though.
We continued to do some small talk for one good hour during the one i learned that Elik got a lot of henchman like duty from Mya and was rather disatisfied to say the least, Mya over working a child is bad!
That Moss was once a guard, and a good one if you believe his stories, however he prefer to live in the forest, away from the sound and the crowd of the city, even if he is not against spending some time downtown to take a stroll or simply visit his family.
When he said that he had family living in the city, i questioned him about the weapon dealer and their resemblances. He directly asked back if i was challenged to kill a sluth. That's how I learnt that the man owning the weapon shop was his brother Nell, He always challenge his new customers, it's his own way of doing business so he explain. And by the way the weapons on sales were made by their father, Uril, the best blacksmith in the vicinity.
Apparently i was right about the monster's components use but not about the receiver of the steed tonic, from what i understood it's their father's birthday soon and each year they would give him a pack of such tonics for his exclusive use in case of 'emergency', if you know what i mean.
I also leaned what they expected of the Imperos festival, for Moss it's the biggest eater contest and Elik it's the finale representation with something akin to fireworks that and others not so interesting matters.
Oddly they never asked me why i, a human, was here, in a beastman country or even why i was thrown into such a state. Now that i think about it the three persons i met today never asked anything about me. Suspicious~
Even if I find them suspicious and even if it only has been this much time since I know them, i can't stop myself to think that they are attaching.
When the mood finally allowed it, I brought the matter about me repaying my debt toward him on the table but after appraising me the same way his brother did earlier he said that he didn't need anything beside a sluth or some more hand to cut the wood because the quantity of woodcutter is decreasing drastically.
Then i asked him why but he responded while shrugging his shoulders "Because of the increase of monster and bandit attacks these pussies are hiding behind their wall. Ah! it's not my case! I'm not afraid of monsters or of some trash too lazy to find a honest job like those bandits!"
Strangely i could easily believe the fact that he wasn't afraid of anything. I mean look at him! In front of something like him It's the monster that is going to wet its pants!
Hearing him braging and me slightly laughing at the idea of a monster running back while crying for its mother, Elik asked in a joking tone if it was fine if he was wasting his time chatting with us in place of actually working.
At that He stopped in the middle of his sentence where he was going to boast about his guard days and looked at the sun's position.
"You are right. It should be good enough now.
Elik i will let you set everything up and Zell if you want to give me a hand it's now, follow me"
What with this sudden change of mood?
He then went toward his cabin, signaling me to follow him with a wave of his big hand. Curious and because Elik shooed me to follow him i got up from my chair and entered the house with him. Then we arrived in the first room, a kitchen... probably.
It's a bit hard to really know if its a kitchen or a weapon storage. What was in favor of the kitchen was the presence of typical kitchen furniture, the biscuit and the tea preparation leftovers as to what was in favor of the weapon storage, it was the huge amount of bladed or blunt ustensils around the room, they certainly weren't destined to be used in any cooking process because who the fuck would need a fucking sledgehammer in a kitchen ?!
Okay maybe to hammer the meat, a big piece of meat, but what about the halberd?
Leaving me in full introspection, Moss advanced without much care and took a big two handed axe with a blade aroud forty centimeter wide made of a blueish gray alloy, like the ones i saw back at the weapon dealer, from a rack on the wall before glancing toward me, probably waiting for some kind of reaction from me.
"Hum.. okay, what are those weapons and what do i have to do?"
"My father call them his 'samples', they are some of his tentatives on creating using a new technique, alloy composition, shape or model. When he feel like it he will make one and ask me to try it, you just have to pick the one you prefer the most because we will 'test' them soon enough" he explained
Hum, it makes sense.
"Eh...so your father craft the weapons, you try them and your brother sell them? That's a nice family business you got here."
I looked at the exposed weapons while muttering that but once again i didn't find anything being in my range of mastery. Even between the twenty weapons in the room i didn't have any way of being able to wield them without ridiculing myself.
No matter how i think about it there is no way that i could use two to three meters long weapons without cleaving myself off something afterall. If its a halberd i might be able to do something good but i still prefer ask for a sword. swords are good, swords are justice, eat swords.
"Say, do you have something more longsword-like? I'm not into the hammers and axes"
Hearing my question, He adopted a thinking pose with his fist against his chin until a bulb lightened above his head and he hitted his hand with his fist in a 'eureka' fashion.
"Wait a minute, I might have something like that!"
He said just before rushing inside the room at the left of the entrance door, is that a bedroom?
After a brief moment during the one i heard searching sound coming from there he came back with a sword made of the same alloy as the rest long of one meter twenty in a wooden case.
I know that i ask a lot of question but what do you do with a sword in your bedroom when you have racks to put it on?
"Here, it's a new tentative that i didn't tested yet, it felt too light for me thus i left it be for now. My father, having a thing for heavier weaponry, recently tried to produce some lighter one in the optic of extending his field of expertise. this sword is the result, one meter of blade made of Alken alloy which components were extracted from the Scion reachs at the west. It's sharp as well as possess a good durability however because it's a first try it might be a bit unbalanced or possess some flaws so I will be counting on you to give me your feeling about its performance after we have finished. Take it then follow me."
Sounds awesome!
After extending my hand to grab the weapon, i inspected it in the detail meanwhile i followed Moss outside.
The sword weighed something like one kilogramme and felt relatively good in the hand, its design was rather plain, it's logic to not care to much about the details for a first try afterall. As for the sharpness of the edge-
Ouch! It went into my skin like in a lump of butter! Argh! it's bleeding! Quick let's stop the bleeding by sucking it!
Hum *slurp*, now that i think about cutting through things why does a woodcutter ask me to help him with a sword?
"Since earlier you had spoken about trying the weapons but are you not a lumberjack? Obviously You aren't going to use weapon as woodcutting tools, right?" I asked with my cutted index in mouth once we were outside in front of a seated Elik a bit exhausted and sweaty but bearing a proud smile while drinking her tea.
Something happened in the three minutes we went in?
"Don't worry you will soon understand, Elik is everything set up?"
"Yep, they will be here in less than two minutes"
"What will come?!"
"How much?"
"Can someone answer me?!"
"*sigh* each day more of them keep on appearing, thus it will be a like yesterday, just another little challenge~."
"Around five then?"
"five what?!"
"Bingo~"
"Don't let me in the blank!"
"Nice job princess"
"It wasn't much, it's you guys who will do the most of the work afterall"
"That's it! i give up!"
No matter how much i agitated my arms or raised my voice to get them to notice me they just kept on ignoring me, dejected i decided sat next to Elik and pout while crunching some cookies to fill my stomach still half empty even after all the tea and cookies i previously chugged but a low-pitched growl stopped me in my tracks
"Grrrrrrrrooooooooooooo!"
"Oops miscalculation of mine, it was more like ten seconds~"
"Can't help it, Zell let's go!"
He suddenly grabbed me by the collar and dragged me along with him toward the edge of the clearing.
"Wait! Explain me fiiiiiiiiiiirst!!!"
"Good luck~!"
--------
"GRRRRoooooOOOoooo!"
The growl was stronger after we had advanced enough through the layer of tree and i could perceive movement in the shadows surrounding us, certainly fleeing little animals. Me? i was still being dragged by Moss like a old sack, a living and displeased old sack...
"Okay, what the fucking flaming fuck is fucking happening?!"
"Shhhhh, dont make too much noise...they will target you."
"What will target me?"
"Treants..."
"...treants? what do you mean by treants? the monster that use people as fertiliser? that's why you gave me a sword?!
You know i should still be in my bed right now AND you want someone who should be crippled to fights fucking TREANTS?!"
He is no lumberjack! Killing trees able to gut someone isn't anything akin to woodcutting! It's just bland monster hunting!
"Like you care, you are tough enough to heal a cut from my father sword in twenty seconds, what are you afraid of? Beside under your funny look and behaviors I can see your way of standing, how you look at stranger like if they were potential enemies and how you are someone used to fight as well as seeing fights. Treants won't be dangerous for someone like you."
I healed? what?
....
Holy shit! the cut on my finger isn't here anymore! body! stop doing strange things without my conscent! it creep me out!
Beside
"You aren't even sure of what you say! all of this is some mere speculations of yours."
"Maybe you are right, but I will continue to do like i always did when i was guard, by trusting my instinct. And my instinct tell me that you aren't someone bad an that you you can be trusted thus i trust you and bring you in my morning session of woodcutting"
"*sigh* to act like that... you never were betrayed before, right?"
it's dangerous to only live by your instinct, you know?
"Nope, my instinct always made me guess someone's nature thus i beated them to a pulp before they could betray me. We will discuss relationship's alchemy later, now it's time to focus, they are coming..."
"GUROOOOOO!"
Just when he put me on my legs while ordering me to focus a huge humanoid leaped from the trees shadows and stood in front of us.
The humanoid was three meter high, completely made of wood, it's torso was a stout log with thick bark drawing irregular pattern giving a ruguous feeling to it, from the human-shaped torso extended a head, one arm and two leg each made of vegetal waste and in its molded skull head bore a hole in which a little green light was dancing restlessly and was the source of the deep growl.
It wasn't a joke.... Fuck
A treant, a lump of dead wood having gathered too much of the ambiant mana and thereby was brought to life to mindlessly attack any other mana sources at proximity to consume them and grow stronger. Often hunted for their magic wood, great magic conductors and sources, the fluorescent moss growing on them possesing analgesic properties and their leafs as luxury spices. Sometimes if you are lucky you can even get a magic core useful in a lot of field making it a pricy material.
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*ting*!
Ooooooooh i understand now!
Elik was sweaty because she came here to empty her magic power to gather the treants that Moss will use as test subjects for his father's weapon and once hunted down they gather their respective components while sharing the earning of what they don't personally need and everybody win from this. Smart, really smart!
But it means that the treant should be cleanly killed. Tch.
"I suppose that you need the component"
No fire magic then, to bad, not like light magic could do anything to them too
"That's right also, that one is mine" said the confident Moss as he stepped toward the wooden geant in a relaxed battle stance with his badass axe in hand.
I like where this is going! Go kill them all while i look at the entertainment.
"Come at me!"
"GRRRROOOOO"
"Aaaaaah!"
Both shouting a battle cry, The monster and the man... bearman, both charging at each other, both decidind to have the hide... or bark of the other, both ready to end the other life with its arm condensed into a deadly whip for the first and with his huge battle axe brandished for the second. An epic fight was bound to happen so....
Why did the treant went past Moss and continued to charge at meeeeeeeeeee!?
"Aaaah! Bad Groot! Sit!"
Seeing the two hundreds kilogrammes launched at full speed toward me, i did what was the most logic thing to do. Run far away. A chance that they are reputed to be relatively slow.
*slam*
"I said sit! You goddamn overgrown fern!"
Taking me as target, the treant slammed his body against the tree which was at my previous location while flailing his whip arm around to grab my retreating figure before i could take cover behind a tree, a chance that I'm nimble when i retreat.
God fucking dammit! What have i done AGAIN !?
"Zell it look like it fell in love with you! Keep doing what you did to distract it! I will try to bring it down quickly"
I don't want it to like me! it's because i became handsomer right!? Stop! I'm not into plants! even though i don't hate planturous women
*whip* *crash*
Nice, the treant which felt in love with me like to use whip... why do i always attract freaks?
Even with the threatening Moss moving toward its back the thing continued to attack me with his whip, half shredding the tree protecting me in his onslaught
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
*whip* *blam*
It passed at five centimeter of me !!!
"Too close!"
*whip* *clack* *blam*
It's making the trees fall on me!!! stop cutting my escape routes! It's unfair!
"MOSS! Will you attack it one day or you just want to see how long i can survive!?"
I shouted impatiently at the bearman sluggishly making his way toward the blindspot of the thing
"Coming! It's hard for me to don't get the collateral damages so shut up and evade!"
Nooooooo, I'm just going to stand still and get killed.
"That's what I'm doing!"
"Continue then!"
Like seriously!? it's not your life which is at stake here!
"You begin to piss me-GROOOOO! *whack* bwaaaaaaaaak! *blam*"
Unbeknown to me something suddenly appeared in my peripherical vision, I then took a hit out of nowhere in the stomach and flew far from my previous location because in my argument with Moss i forgot what they previously said.
"GURRRRROOOOOOO!"
there are five of them...
Because of my stupid mistake I flew at a good distance from the first treant and crashed agaist a tree lying in my trajectory. biting my lip in the process as well as letting go of the sword which planted itself into a stump two meters away.
Damn it hurt....
Seriously don't hit in the stomach after i pigged this much tea and cookies, i will puke guh...
*CLACK*
What is this sound...oh come on!
*Blam*
My impact with the tree teared off a big branch and made it fall on the back of my head making me kiss the floor as i was going to get up.
A rpg, a galge and now a cartoon ?! Really?!
"That's it... I'm pissed!"
After i wiped with my sleeve the blood that leaked out of my mouth, brought my back in his former state with a loud *crack*, crouched down to pick the sword i let go and assumed a fighting stance in front of the two new opponents coming out of cover of the trees.
"GOOOOOOO!"
Not taking well the fact that i survived a direct punch of its, altleast i guess, it's not like i could read the expression of a piece of wood, the treant who previously attacked me transformed its arm into a club with a *cracklack* and charged me with the same demarch as a gorilla.
"Not twice fucker! Mana edge! ORAAA!"
I too mindlessly charged after applying a thin layer of blue energy on my blade to further sharpen it and strenghtening its blueish taint, ofcourse my reach being shorter that the one of my foe i first had to dodge the heavy vertical swipe of its club before his weak point got in my striking range.
Weak point easily determinable by a simple gaming rule:
What is shiny is important!
"take that FUCKER!"
Thus i used his lowered arm as foothold and propulsed myself to thrust the meter long blade through the light floating in its skull, killing it on the spot.
Easy~
*thud*
*blam*
Using my movement and the geant's shoulder to increase my momentum enough to allow me to lightly land behind the now lifeless creature's back, I was directly in front of the second opponent which looked more smart than his degenerated brethen because he was circling around me, studying me.
It might be an older one, that's good, treants components are like alcohol, the older the expensiver.
Choosing to not directly attack me even with its obvious physical superiority the living log enracined it's feet to gather mana from the soil, making the light in its skull grow like a devouring flame.
"Oh no you don't!"
Not wanting the thing to shoot a laser from his orbits or use some nature magic i rushed toward the old treant, its legs articulations more accurately.
i'm not joking, it's possible to shoot laser beam if you have enough magic, no need to tell you that it could hurt pretty bad.
But the moment i was in range to attack the two legs i was suddenly stopped in my motion and fell flat on the floor, again.
Remember my comment about the cartoon?
"Eh? Why can't i move?...oh... you are quite viscious for a piece of wood, you know that?"
It trapped me. its feet weren't plunged in the floor to gather mana but to extends its roots to hold me in place before stricking me! And i fell for it!
"Gurohrohrohroh"
Assuming that it was able to laugh, it mocked me before condensing the branch of its arm in the shape of a wooden sword
*cracklack*
"*gulp* no good!"
"Grroooooo!"
Now fully confident in its victory against an immobilised I, it swung horizontally its bladed arm to cut me in half
As if someone like me would get killed like that.
"Just kidding! Sword wave!"
Unfornately for it i hadn't drawn all my cards yet as still on the floor i parried its attack by swinging my weapon in a wide arc. In this motion the blue hue around my sword separated from it and crashed against the wooden blade, destabilising and pushing it back with enough strength to let me the time to shred the thick roots entraving my feet and take a safe distance from it.
Tch. Its sword is just a bit dented inward and not cleanly severed like i expected. You don't make it easier for me you know?
"GROOOOOOO!"
Certainly not used to get hit and even more injured, as far a piece of wood can be injured or feel pain, the treant got infuriated and after pushing a loud howl, it charged me while hacking like a mad ma...woodman.
Hard to kill and short tempered, aren't we?
Its movements being completely imprevisible, i did as i could to avoid the hits and was back at taking cover behind trees which unlike the treant weren't able to move around thus were mercilessly slaughtered, waiting for the good opening.
No i'm not coward, I just act strategically.
"GGRRRRROOOOOO"
*swoosh* *crack* *blablablam!*
"Miss"
it still missed me but it cut two tree in one swipe. not bad.
*swoosh* *crack* *blablablablablam!!!*
"Try again!"
incredible! it got four trees in one go! NEW RECORD!
It went like that for five good minutes, around fifty trees where killed during these five minutes.Please help us to stop the deforestation, join Green Peace.
And to think that there are people who are believing that treants are forest's protectors. just mindless rotten stick if you want my opinion.
My efforts somehow paid and it lost me when i slipped behind its back and stealthily hid in a lucky bush when he trashed my last cover, if it had a face it would show a dumbfounded expression judging from his way of circling around my last known location.
Why bothering myself to kill it cleanly when i could simply burn it or cut it in dice, you ask? Simply because this thing is a walking gold vault, because Moss didn't specified anything about the parts that interested them and because if i kill it without damaging the components too much my debt toward Elik, Mya and Moss should be cleared quicklier, enabling me to quit these people the moment i will need it the most without leaving any bad aftertaste. They are too much friendly, it would become dangerous if i stay around them for too long.
"grrooo?"
Chance!
Profiting of the fact that it bend to look after my possible dead body under a tree log while doing a stupid interrogative growl, i rushed toward its exposed back and climbed up to its shoulders, my weapon already clad in the familiar blue hue as well as positioned to penetrate the hardened wooden shell encompassing its weak point but i didn't had enough time to take action.
The wood geant, feeling my weigh on its back suddenly raised its upper body, pushing me out of balance. However after doing my best to not fall i was somehow able to overlap the treant with my legs locked around its head base. Ready for a rodeo...
I'm so fucked...
Understanding what was happening, It first tried to grab me but i evaded his free hand by moving toward place of its anatomy he didn't knew of and because it was too stupid to change back its sword into a functional arm it could't get me, as i moved like a cockroach on its body.
Randomly swiping its arms being fruitless, it then tried another way to get me. its genius idea was to ram its body in the trees surrounding us.
Pure genius...
"Stop! *blam* that won't work! *bonk* you will hurt yourself instead!"
Meanwhile the big boy was trying to kill me, i was doing my best to stay still on it and put the sword in a way that will make it...
*slam* *shring*
"Gorororo......"
"Told you, dumbass"
...penetrate its head at the next impact.
Older but not smarter by much, huh?
*bodom*
Climbing down from the geant which died still against a tree lucky enough to not be cut down like its brethen, i looked around for Moss.
Treant aren't that dangerous after all, you just have to know where to hit, be able to dodge and being a bit smarter than them~
*bodom*
Where the fuck is Moss?
*bodom*
It's impossible that i was thrown too far away and only suffer from a light back pain so he should still be somewhere close, right?
*bodom*
"GRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Wow! That's a big shout!
"Zell! Get down!"
Getting down? Why?
Oh...
Is that a tree!? Shit!
*blam* *blam* *dogon*
A huge log was flying toward me and i had just enough time to jump flat behind the lucky tree before the projectile crashed near my location, rotating slightly upon impact and finishing its course against a rock lying there.
What AGAIN !?
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oh by the way, thank you for reading me!