"So these are night plums huh..."
The first batch of the farms had finally fully grown and a small group of fakes including the Samurai and Lily4339 had gathered to celebrate the first fruitful harvest. It was hard to believe that Lily had lived here long enough for night plums to grow. She had obviously grown quite familiar with the place and its people by now, making sure to join any gatherings that occurred for any reason.
The plums themselves were pitch black instead of the typical plum colour.
One of the Jack fakes picked up one of the freshly grown fruit and held it out for everyone to see. Judging from the way he held it, it must've felt very squishy and did not burst even though the farmer pinched it with slight force.
"I think it's only fair the Samurai gets to have the first taste since she is the one who brought the seeds." Said the Jack fake farmer.
There was no disagreement there.
"Thank you everyone." The Samurai took the plum and without hesitation, took a bite from it. As her teeth sinked into the fruit, it burst, causing black juice to flow in her mouth.
Upon chewing, the Samurai made... a weird face: certain parts of her cheeks scrunched in ways, one of her eyes closed while the other opened up wider and her forehead seemed to involuntarily make a frown. She only made that face for a brief moment before returning to usual and swallowing.
She let out a genuine hum of satisfaction, "Mhn! So nutritious."
The Samurai took another bite. Only to make the exact same expression again.
"Shall we start distributing it to everyone?" She asked casually after swallowing.
Everyone watched silently. This was the same woman who could eat actual trash and food scraps as if it was fresh bread, they all thought to themselves.
Then... they all started bursting out in pure, hysterical laughter.
"BAHAHAHA! Samurai, what the hell?!"
"What kind of face was that?! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"I knew they were nicknamed 'Wince Plums' but that was way beyond a regular wince."
Someone fell to the ground, clutching his stomach as he could barely handle this much laughter.
"Is it really that bad?" The Jack fake farmer took a plum and had a try.
Upon the fruit entering his mouth, Jack's face grew contorted with parts of his face scrunching in different directions as if he was in a state constant constipation.
"BAHAHAHAHAH!" Another fellow Jack fake pointed at the farmer and laughed even harder than before.
"Let me try! Let me try!" Cheered a Yukari fake.
And so it almost became like some sort of fun game. Each person would somehow show a different expression so it became a competition to see who could make the most bizarre expression. The small group grew larger as more people become curious as they hadn't heard this much laughter in a while. Lily happily had a try. She could only describe the taste as... a 'uniquely questionable' mix or sour, bitter and strongly acidic. Even the Samurai was laughing loudly.
From there, they plotted and expanded the farm using tools that the Samurai had brought back on her hunting trips.
...
-o-o-
...
The two of them ascended an upward tunnel.
It was quite steep but had plenty of room to move around which would explain how the Samurai is able to drag large amounts of monster meat through here. There were many points where they had to climb up to progress. This made Lily think about just how many times the Samurai had gone through here. Just how hard does she work every day?
Each of her movements looked memorised. As if she knew precisely which rock to step on to climb up. Well... "climb" was probably not the right word to use. Most times she would simply 'jump' heights that shouldn't be possible before giving Lily her hand so that she could climb up.
Before this, Lily had nervously asked the Samurai if she could just have a peak of the outside and to her surprise, the Samurai was more happy to show her. So here they were, heading towards the surface. This would be Lily's first time leaving the underground.
After a total of about 10 minutes, they arrived at a dead end. Or at least it looked like a dead-end before Lily looked up to see a hole in the ceiling. The ceiling was quite close to their heads so the hole was within arm's length.
The Samurai jumped up first before lending Lily a hand.
They weren't outside just yet. On the top, they seemed to enter another cave.
The area itself was quite small compared to underground but probably enough space to accomodate seats around a campfire. There was nothing in there besides a large boulder that leaned against the wall of the cave.
Lily then stood there is awe as she witness the Samurai push the boulder aside with nothing but her bare hands. Once she had moved in, she dusted off her hand. There was many cuts and blisters on her hands.
"It would be easier to just cut it in half... but then I would have to find a new boulder each time, hahaha!" The Samurai joked as if claiming to slice a boulder in half was a regular thing to state.
Moving the boulder aside revealed an exit.
She could tell from just a glance. After she saw light. Natural light.
They entered the "entrance" which was simply another small cave that had an exit to the outside world. Beyond the entrance, Lily could barely see through it since there was... Lily couldn't believe the sight. It was a-
"Looks like another sandstorm. Do not go too close or you will get sand in your eyes." Said the Samurai, she then added, "A few fakes actually took shelter in this very cave before I took them down. The dessert can is a harsh place to travel through so they were very fortunate to find this place."
When they told her before, she could barely believed it: the underground cave she had been living in for months really was beneath a dessert. The reason why she could barely believe it was because the Samurai saved her in a forest that was no where near a dessert.
Yet here she was, staring at clear evidence of a dessert sandstorm.
Looking around, you would've never been able to guessed that this small tiny cave that seemed like a dead end actually connected to a huge series of underground caves hidden beneath the desert mountains.
Ironically, she felt anxious now that she was here. The fresh air she thought she wanted to feel only seemed to haunt her insides.
Perhaps she had gotten too used to the comfort and safety of the undergrounds. Perhaps knowing that the outside world is still requesting for the death of all fakes scared her. Perhaps it was both.
"Do you usually go out when there's a storm like this?" Lily asked. Considering how busy the Samurai is, she didn't think the Samurai would have the time to wait for a sandstorm to calm down. Especially if it happened often.
The storm seemed fairly mild for Lily's standards but that didn't mean it wouldn't be hard to traverse.
"Yes."
"Are you going to go out now?"
"After I help you go back down. Yes, I plan to-"
"No!" Lily almost immediately responded, she stuttered when the Samurai looked away from the entrance and straight at her, "I mean...I can wait here until you come back."
She didn't want to give the Samurai more unnecessary work all because Lily wanted to go sight seeing.
"Are you sure?"
Lily nodded her head, almost a bit too much.
The Samurai smiled, "Alright. However, at the very least, please stay in the room behind the boulder, just in case."
So she did and with that, the Samurai left. At least Lily assumed she had already left, judging from the silence. Strangely, she did not hear any running footsteps once the boulder had been put back.
Lily leaned against the rock wall and hugged her knees. She used the time to contemplate everything that had happened while staring at the hole that lead back to the deep caves where all her fellow fakes were living. It looked so small yet contained so much. This place was a wonderful home to live in... but all of it depended on the Samurai's hard work. Without her, she questioned whether this community would still be able to stand or not. She didn't want to entertain the idea.
The boulder began moving suddenly. Much to her shock.
It was significantly sooner than expected. Lily had no idea how long it had been but it did not feel like that much time had passed.
She was scared at first so she instinctively covered her mouth as if that would turn her invisible. Had a stranger discovered their hiding place? Maybe someone with a sensing skill found her presence. Her worries were swiftly relieved when she saw the Samurai's face.
"Oh my, I apologise for scaring you. I will make sure to knock next time."
"It's fine. But why are you back so soon?"
The Samurai didn't answer. Her expression changed. Once she moved the boulder fully, she knelt down and picked something up from the ground.
Except it wasn't 'something'. It was 'someone'. Someone small.
Lily looked and slightly gasped at the sight.
it was a child. A small girl. The child was covered in so much sand that you could barely see her purple hair and what seemed to be... wolf ears? The child also had a furry tail, the same colour as her hair.
"A beast child?"
"Yes."
She had never seen one. At least not this close.
The child's clothes were covered in sand as well but even without the sand, it looked like the discarded brown rags that you find in trash.
There was one more notable feature about her appearance. There were bandages wrapped around her eyes like a bandana.
Even with the sand, Lily could see the outline of... dried up blood. You didn't need to be a expert healer to know that whatever happened to this child's eyes, it most certainly wasn't the sand.
Lily looked away as soon as thoughts of morbid horror entered her mind. She felt sick as her imagination ran with the wildest of assumptions. Gruesome assumptions.
"Lets go back down."
...
-o-o-
...
As soon as they arrived back down in the underground caves, the Samurai gave her a request, "Lily, can you call 'the older ones' please?"
"O-of course."
Few minutes later, four Yukaris, two Lilys, one Aria and two Zenos arrived and assisted the Samurai in attending to the child's condition. They were the same fakes who Lily saw when she first woke up in this place.
A small crowd of clamour and whispers had formed from a distance. Lily was standing there with them. They had all seen the beast child. But when they wanted to take a closer look, the Samurai advise that they all keep their distance for the moment.
Lily and everyone else knew exactly why.
They were going to remove the bloody bandages that were covering the child's eyes.
When they did, Lily saw some of fakes flinch. Some of them recoiled and almost tripped backwards.
"Oh god..."
"How awful..."
"Poor child."
"Sister, that mark on her back. Isn't that-"
"A slave mark. Yes."
"But didn't one of the original heroes abolish slavery?"
"Yes brother, but that doesn't mean the humans don't do it anymore."
"H-how is she alive?"
"The body of Beastmen are significantly more... "durable" than humans, not to mention they can heal faster... unfortunately it was one of the main reasons why their kind was the number one favourite among slave owners. At least, before fakes came to existence."
"Will she live?" Asked the Samurai.
"If she was able to survive a sandstorm in this state than probably yes... We'll do what we can."
"Lets clean off all the sand first... especially the sand in her... you know..."
"Be as gentle as you can please."
"Of course."
...
-o-o-
...
A few days passed since then. The wolf child remained asleep, her state gradually making slight improvements with each day.
Lily continued those days as she usually would. She would occasionally sneak in a peak at the beast child out of pure curiosity. Although her curiosity was never strong enough to stop her from looking away whenever they replaced the bandage around the child's eyes.
The Samurai had been out hunting for resources even more than usual which was concerning since her "usual" amount of hunting should already be too much for a single person to handle.
Was she even sleeping? Lily thought to herself.
Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard someone exclaim-
"Oww!" The voice of a Yukari fake cried out.
Lily followed the noise back to the main area where she heard loud clamouring, whispering and... growling? Not the type of growling that come from stomachs, she heard actual animal growling.
Upon joining the crowd of spectators, she finally realised what had caused all the commotion.
The beast child was awake.
The blind girl had somehow escaped from her sleeping place and to the night plum fields, standing in the darkest corner. From the looks of it, the child had stomped on multiple plums that were in the middle of growing. One of her hands were stuffing plums into her mouth. Her loud chewing could be heard even from here.
Everyone was looking at each other, wondering what to do.
The four Yukari fakes, one of which had a scratch on their cheek, were trying to calmly call out to the child.
"It's ok, we're not going to hurt you."
"We're trying to help you."
But when any of them took even a single step forward, the wolf child's ears would twitch and she would growl at them, sharp fangs slightly extending from her nails each time she did. It resulted in a constant stalemate of both sides refusing to move.
It was then the Samurai arrived.
She did not hesitate to approach, no matter how much the child threatened her with growls.
"Hello there, I am a Samurai. What is your name?"
Her question was only met with more threats and growls. But regardless, the Samurai took another step.
The child's threat slowly began to shiver as if the child knew that the Samurai was different from the others.
The child's nose twitched when the Samurai got closer.
"I can bring you back to your home," The Samurai said in a soft gentle tone, "I know where it is... you want to go to the 'foresst' correct?"
For a short moment, Lily could've sworn she heard the faint noise of rustling tree leaves when the Samurai said the word 'forest'. Was she hearing things? It sounded as if the sound of those leaves had blended with the 's' sound of the word but at the same time, it was hard to pinpoint which direction the sound came from.
As if the Samurai had spoken magic words, the blind child stopped, her fangs slowly retreating back into her fingers. The growls, the threats, the chewing, the shivering... it all stopped when the Samurai said that word.
Everyone stared in awe. Maybe it was a magic word. The Samurai had also stopped approaching and stood still, looking at the girl, "I can bring you there."
Finally, the child stepped froward willingly, she reached out her hands, swaying blindly towards the Samurai's direction.
"Home...Mama told me... to met her there..." She clung tightly to the Samurai's clothes as soon as her hands touched them, "Y-you... have to take me there."
It sounded like the child wanted to sound demanding but only came across as helpless and desperate.
The Samurai hugged the child, "Of course."
...
-o-o-
...
Her name was Julie and she was now sound asleep on the Samurai's lap.
"You know where that place is?" One of the Yukari fakes asked.
"Yes. Let's just say I have been there before on multiple occasions while helping other beatsmen who wanted to go there." Said the Samurai.
"The forest? Sounds like a pretty mundane name for a secret magical country... No offence." Commented one of the Zeno fakes, "How do you say it again?"
"The 'foresst'."
This time, Lily heard the faint noise of flowing water. It was only for a brief moment.
"The foresssst?" Lily tried to mimic her by extended the 's' sound of the word but to no avail.
The Samurai smiled as she spoke again, "No not the forest. The 'foresst'."
This time, Lily heard the faint noise of rustling grass but only for a brief moment. Just like before, it blended into the s sound of the word, yet it also sounded like it came from every possible direction.
Seeing her confusion, the Samurai chuckled before explaining, "Only those who have actually been there can say the name properly. You get 'marked' by the fairies which acts as proof to others and it ensures that no one gets be mislead, especially the younger ones. A quick way to gain trust, you could say. Interestingly, it is actually a completely different word for other races when they hear it. For example, I believe Julie here heard the word 'home'."
"Sorry, can someone remind me what exactly this forest place is?" Asked one of the Aria fakes.
"For most humans of today, it is just a myth," The Samurai began, "but for beasts-men, elves, fairies and all sorts of non-human races. It's a safe haven. Hidden from the reach of humans."
"Ironically, it was established by the human queen: Elaine of all people," One of the other Lily fakes added, "the only human who was allowed to enter that place... before she was assassinated by a demon of course."
"How do you know that?" Zeno asked.
The Lily fake tapped her head, "Just one of the things I knew when I came into existence. Probably a fragmented memory of the original Lily."
"That does make sense, since the original Lily was Elaine's daughter after all."
"Speaking of that actually, if the original hero Lily was the daughter of the queen, isn't she suppose to take over as-"
Right before they were all going to delve into a political discussion, the wolf child moved her hand to grasp the Samura's face, causing everyone to fall silent.
The Samurai didn't move as the child felt around to grasp the shape of her face. She even sniffed a few times.
Lily, who sat next to the Samurai, flinched when the wolf child then turned to her direction and began feeling her face. Julie even leaned in slightly to smell her as well.
Lily saw a frown slowly creep onto the child's forehead.
"W-why... you have the same face, same scent...same voice... why?"
No one replied at first. Everyone looked at each other with the same question in their minds. Who was going to explain it to her? To be quite frank, how do you explain the existence of fakes to a child when even the fakes themselves have trouble explaining what they are.
Another concerning mater. The existence of fakes was pretty much known to the whole world since the demon Lord's curse did splatter them everywhere. So the the fact that Julie had no idea what a fake is was quite worrying.
"I will explain it to you later," Said the Samurai, "for now, get some rest."
"Okay."
...
-o-o-
...
The wolf child devoured another night plum, smiling profusely as soon the fruit met with her taste buds.
"Here, have another one." The Samurai placed one more in the child's hands which she graciously accepted.
"You like these plums Julie?" Lily asked.
The child happily nodded, "Mhm! My favourite! Mama also really likes them! Mama is really good at growing them too!"
Almost everyone got to know Julie. How? Because after that event, Julie would practically follow and cling onto the Samurai everywhere she went. As Lily had learned herself from persona experience, if you want to meet the whole cave village, just follow the Samurai. At times, Julie would straight up climb on the Samurai's neck. She was quite light and small according to the Samurai so she did not mind.
Everyone also got to know Julie's mother. How? Because that would be all Julie would talk about. Mama is very strong. Mama is a great cook. Mama can also build tents. Mama always showers with me. Mama can also hunting. Mama this. Mama that. No matter what the topic of the conversation was, Julie always found way to mention her mother, one way or another.
She was greatly adored by the village for her cuteness and cheerfulness despite her very unfortunate circumstances. It was unexpected to see such as an attitude... considering her eyes. Lily thought to herself.
However, there was one troubling thing about Julie. Unlike Lily, Julie would strongly refuse to leave the Samurai's side whenever she went outside to go hunting. She would cry, scream and growl whenever they tried to pull her away from the Samurai. At times, she would even go as far as using her claws to stick herself to the Samurai's leg.
And so the Samurai eventually gave in and allowed her to come with her on her hunting trips. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened on those short trips. Although Lily couldn't help but be even more concerned since that meant that the Samurai had to put more effort into making sure Julie didn't get hurt.
One day, while the Samurai was organising the monster meat she hunted down, she was approached by an Elizabeth fake who looked very concerned.
"Samurai... Those four "Arthur hunters", I saw them sneaking out again." Elizabeth whispered.
"Is that so?"
"You need to be more stern with them Samurai. Their little 'adventures' are getting more longer each time. They're out for days sometimes. They're going to get themselves killed you know... Please, they'll only listen to you."
"...I will talk with them."
...
-o-o-
...
It was very late at night. Mostly everyone was asleep by this time. Mostly. The Samurai was still awake, preparing for her trip to bring Julie back home. She needed to prepare all the necessities for the trip along with ensuring that the cave village had enough supplies to use while she is away.
The Samurai packed, organised, wrapped items, put Julie to sleep, organised more items, calculated the amount of food, and also seemed to be making a large square backpack made of bamboo, straw and other material that Lily could not identify. As she did so, she heard footsteps which was followed by someone emerging from a corner
"Aren't you tired?" It was Lily4339.
She received silence as a response but only for a brief moment.
"Very tired," The Samurai replied honestly, "but for the sake of everyone here, I must do what I have to do. I cannot afford to rest. Not now."
Lily didn't say anything. What was she suppose to say? "Don't push yourself too hard, your health is more important"? She couldn't say that. Not when the entire community depended on her. Does she even have the right to say that when she herself is one of the many who rely on her.
"We're still developing Lily. Believe me, I do no intend to go on like this forever." The Samurai assured her.
...
-o-o-
...
Eventually the day the Samurai planned to leave arrived.
It turned out the huge bamboo backpack she created was not only for some supplies but for Julie to hide in. Fortunately she was quite small so Julie could fit in with space to spare
She was at the exit with Lily and a group of fakes saying their goodbyes.
Even when about to leave, the Samurai continuously gave worried reminders to the four Yukari's. Reminders that she had said a hundred times. Makes sure to do this, don't do that, be sure to finish that, remember this, etc. It was one of the rare moments where Lily saw the Samurai's usual calm composure slightly crumbled by anxiety.
One of the four Yukari fakes sighed, "Samurai. It's fine! You have done more than enough for us. Now go! Take Julie home and stay safe."
The Samurai took in a deep breath to calm herself down, "I will be back."
With one last goodbye to Julie, the Samurai left with the wolf child safely stored in the backpack.
...
-o-o-
...
Each day with the Samurai gone was filled with dreadful "what ifs". She wasn't the only one who felt that way. Many others felt the same. It further highlighted just how important the Samurai was to this community.
But in the end, the worries were for nothing as the Samurai returned safety after a few weeks, looking completely ok and even happy as she carried an empty bamboo backpack. Lily couldn't get over just how amazing the Samurai was. As if she wasn't even capable of failing.
Naturally, everyone welcomed her back with large open arms. Although those welcoming arms were also painted with curiosity as they asked about Julie.
The Samurai smiled proudly, she looked tired yet contempt and filled with glee.
She announced happily to everyone:
"Julie is safe. She is home and in good hands."
She then proceeded to tell us about the whole trip and the stories that occurred.
...
This chapter was finished on the 09/07/2022
ns 15.158.61.5da2
