The Sage looked away from a particular tree, only to quickly look back at it. In the brief moment she had averted her eyes, the tree had moved closer to her. Shivering at the sight, she actively made sure to stay very close to the Samurai's side for protection, "I know these trees are 'harmless', but they sure are creepy. It feels like they're stalking us."
The Samurai gently chuckled at this. Unlike the Sage, she was very calm as we walked through the forest and she didn't seem to mind that the Sage was constantly clinging to her shirt.
Knowing that there wasn't actually any threat, Alfred and Cleric had gone way past the point of being creeped out and were once again trying to play a game of tag with the trees.
Apparently, they even somehow managed to meet "Tom" again which was this one tree that my two knights had met and named during our first visit. They adopted it as if Tom was some sort of pet.
"Do you know anything about this forest, Samurai?" I asked.
"I am afraid I do not know much besides what the Scout has already told us. This is the first time I have witnessed a place like this." Answered the Samurai. She seemed to be more intrigued by the trees rather than scared.
Our conversation was casually light hearted as we progressed through the trees. The Sage kept asking more question about the Puppet which I tried to answer to the best of my knowledge.
It had been a few days since our last visit. This would be my third time coming here, and it wasn't until now did I finally ask myself the question: how are we able to consistency reach the Puppet's house without any actual directions? In the previous two visits, all we did was walk forward, and suddenly we were at our destination. Strange. There was no way we just so happened to stumble upon the house by chance, right?
"I'm actually not sure how exactly to get there or how long it'll take," I admitted to the group, "So should we take a short break first?"
We took several more steps before I realised that my question had been met with utter silence. There had been no response.
My knights and I turned around to find that the Sage and the Samurai were no where to be seen despite the fact that they were following right behind us mere moments ago. It was exactly like what happened with the Reaper and the Scout when they visited.
It was then Cleric jumped in shocked and tried desperately looking around for them. But all his efforts were in vain as I told him to stay close to me. The reason for Cleric's panicked reaction is because he actually wanted to meet the flower Elizabeth one more time. He had a theory that if he was holding onto the Samurai, he would vanish with them and hence be able to meet the flower Elizabeth again. Unfortunately, he was distracted by meeting "Tom" the tree. It was too late now, the Sage and the Samurai had completely disappeared.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
"Summoner? Cleric?" The Sage called out, "Alfred?"
It was just the Samurai and the Sage, with no one else around.
The Sage wasn't that panicked by this sudden scenario since she always felt safe around the Samurai. With that said, as much as she hates to admit it, if she were alone in a place like this, the poor healer would've been screaming in fear.
But right now, the Sage simply seemed confused about how this had even occurred in the first place. "That's so weird! I could've sworn the Summoner and her knights were right in front of us just now."
"How interesting..." The Samurai commented as she looked around.
While the Sage had been previously distracted by the surrounding trees, the Samurai had actively made sure that her eyes were glued to the Summoner's back. She did this because she became curious after the Summoner had warned her beforehand that this was going to happen.
From the Samurai's point of view, the moment she blinked, the Summoner and her knights completely vanished from her sight.
"Could it be an effect caused by the forest, I wonder."
The Sage shrugged, "I have no idea. What should we do now, Sensei?"
"Well firstly, we should keep walking," Answered the Samurai, "according to the Summoner, we should come across of a field of-"
"WHOA! LOOK OVER THERE!" The Sage exclaimed as she ran over to what she saw. The Samurai swiftly followed.
The pair of Lily fakes ran through a few trees before entering a huge open field of vibrant flowers. Every colour was present and each flower made the surrounding air shimmer with a subtle touch of glitter. Even thought they had expected it, the sight was still breathtaking enough to surprise the pair.
"It's so beautiful." Said Lily is complete awe. This was her first time seeing so many colours all in one place.
However, the Samurai was focused on something entirely different near the center of the field, which the Sage was quick to notice. That was when the Sage saw her.
Elizabeth6616. There she laid, surrounded by the many colours of nature. Just as they were told, this Elizabeth fake's lower body was completely buried in flowers, meaning only the upper half of her body was visible.
That aside, the most noticeable detail was her wide open eyes that were locked onto them. A gaze so intense that made it seemed like she was always staring at them from the very moment they entered this forest.
The Sage leaned over to the Samurai's shoulder and whispered, "Umm, I... I think she's looking at you, Sensei."
"It appears so."
The Samurai was the first one to start walking towards the centre of the flower field. The Sage hesitantly followed. The Lily fake never broke eye contact as she approached the Elizabeth fake.
The closer they approached, the more evident it became that Elizabeth's gaze was indeed fixed specifically on the Samurai.
The Samurai knelt down by her side. She didn't make any attempts to communicate, and neither did the Sage
After a moment, the flower girl raised her arm and pointed in a certain direction.
"You can trust her."
She said.
The Samurai briefly glanced in the direction Elizabeth was pointing at.
The Sage patiently awaited her Sensei's decision.
The Samurai, initially motionless, observed Elizabeth's body and arm.
Finally, she made her move, gently grasping Elizabeth's hand and slowly closing her pointing finger.
"You can trust her."
She said.
The Sage watched carefully as her sensei rested Elizabeth's arm by her side, the same arm Elizabeth had pointed with.
Then, as delicately as she could, the Samurai leaned closer to the flower girl's face before tenderly closing her eye lids.
Both Lily fakes knelt by Elizabeth's side as her voice gradually faded with each word.
"You... can... trust... her..."
Her head slightly slumped to the side as a gentle breeze stirred the surrounding flowers.
"..."
"..."
Once the Samurai and the Sage finished their moment of silence, they rose and left the field without uttering a word.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
Just as before, the house came into view after we passed several more trees.
It looked the same as last time. The trees formed a circular perimeter around the house as if they were giving the house it's own personal space. Due to the nature of the "Harmless Forest", wide clearings like this were quite the rare sight.
My knights and I stood at the edge of the perimeter by the trees as we decided to wait until we meet up with the Samurai and the Sage.
As I waited, I spotted a small object on the ground, almost completely hidden within the lush grass. In most places, I usually wouldn't bat an eye. However, this was the Harmless Forest, where the ground was practically spotless—devoid of twigs, pebbles, bugs, or anything else. This peculiar cleanliness is said to be the work of the trees. Whenever they move on top a small object, it disappears, almost as if the trees were cleaning their territory. At least that's what the theories suggest according to the Scout.
So you could probably imagine my curiosity when I spotted a small grey petal on the ground.
Ever since I first came here, there has been a common reoccurring theme in this forest: that mysterious field of flowers, the teapot, the dead flower by the Puppet's bed, the lock on the basement door and now... now there was this lonely grey petal on the ground. Just a single, lonely petal. I tried to look around for the rest of the flower but there was nothing else.
I walked over to it and knelt down to take a closer look. It was definitely a petal.
Out of curiosity, I picked it up.
But upon touching it, I immediately shut my ears to the sound of someone screaming. It was a voice I didn't recognise.
I suddenly couldn't talk and my legs wouldn't budge as if they had been frozen in place.
I looked around and saw that I was no longer in the forest. I was in a completely different, darker location but it was hard to tell where I was. Large random parts of my visions were blacked out as if someone had splashed big blogs of ink all over my eyes.
But what I could see was someone's face. A human. Judging from his clothing and weapon, he was most likely an adventurer. His eyes were intensely clouded by an emotion I knew too well: fear. Every inch of his body was trembling, sweat rapidly dripping down his face and his eyes were focused on what I assumed was the threat in front of him.
"S-STAY AWAY!"
In the background, I could hear the loud guttural screams of other human voices.
Another human fell to the ground right into my line of vision. But there was something wrong with him. His body was twitching and convulsing in ways that shouldn't be possible. Along with the screams, I heard the sound of his bones cracking and shattering inside of him.
The other adventure could only watch in horror as his fellow adventure under went what I could only assume was some sort of brutal transformation.
The sight was beginning to be much for me to watch. I tried covering my eyes, only to realised that my entire body was completely transparent and see through. I also wasn't able to close my eyes either. So I looked away but I could still hear the ear piercing screams of agony that rang through the place. Each shattering bones I heard made my body tremble as if the pain was being mentally transferred to me.
I shut my ears but it barely made a differences as the screaming continued to-
"-omoner... SUMMONER!"
I opened my eyes and the reappearance of sunlight temporary blinded me.
Upon awakening, I was greeted by the sight of the Samurai, the Sage and my two little knights looking down at me.
"Summoner!" The Samurai called again, she had one hand on my shoulder while her other hand was on my forehead, "Are you alright?"
I'm not sure when I fell but I was laying on the ground. Alfred and Cleric were rapidly pushing my cheek to wake me up but they instantly stopped when my eyes were opened.
My arms were shaking and I was panting heavily while my heart was rapidly beating twice as fast.
The Samurai gently wrapped her arm around my back and slowly helped me sit up. Seeing that I was still shaking, she carefuly hugged me which gradually calmed me down, "It's okay. It's okay. You're safe. Breathe. Deep breaths."
"W-what happened?" Asked the Sage.
"There was... there was a..." I had to take a moment to slow down my breathing.
The Samurai reached into her backpack and pulled out a canteen bottle of water, "here, drink this."
I must've gulped down half the water in that bottle before I was finally able to calm down and return to my senses. After assuring everyone that I was fine and unharmed, I tried my best to explain what happened and what I saw after touching that petal. Speaking of the petal, when we all searched around the spot where I had passed out, the petal was no where to be seen.
"Do you have any idea what that could have been?" I asked. I wasn't sure whether I had been teleported to somewhere or if it was just a dream. It felt way too vivid to be a normal dream and yet according to my knights, I was always in the same place.
The Samurai placed her hand on her chin, her expression delving deep into thought. It was as if she was sifting through an endless pile of memories. "Judging from what you've described, it does sound... familiar, like something I've heard in the past, but... I can't seem to remember off the top of my head."
"That's okay. We can talk about that later. We've got more important things to deal with right now." I said before I finally remembered, "Oh yeah! Did you two meet the Elizabeth fake in the flower field?"
"Yes... Yes we did." Both the Samurai's and the Sage's expression immediately shifted to more a sombre look when I brought up that topic. The Sage looked down at the ground as if thinking deeply about something.
"Did you two find anything?"
"No. But I may have a potential explanation."
"Really?" I didn't expect to get an answer so soon.
"Assuming I'm not mistaken, I have seen similar cases in the past which might shed some light on the subject. However, that can also be discussed later..." The Samurai replied before she faced the house and pointed at something, "There seems to be a more pressing matter approaching us right now."
"Huh?" I looked towards the house. At first I almost didn't see anything but then I slightly flinched upon seeing her.
It was the Puppet, and she was rapidly sprinting towards us. When people run, they usually use their arms, however, the Puppet was running with her arms hanging limp at her sides and yet she somehow still maintained a fast speed.
"I presume that's the person you've been talking about."
"Yep, that's her."
As she got closer and closer, all I could think to myself was, "Oh dear, here we go again-"
Similar to when we first met, she tackled me to the ground and started furiously pinching my cheeks. This time, my two little knights simply watched in amusement. Cleric even started clapping for her. The Sage was incredibly startled out of her deep train of thought whereas the Samurai could only look at the Puppet with an intrigued look.
"Is it a pleasure to finally meet you, Puppet." Greeted the Samurai as she extended her arm for a friendly handshake, "my friends have told me many things about you."
The Puppet finally stopped squeezing my face and directed her attention to the two Lily fakes. She silently eyed the Samurai's hand for a few seconds which made the Sage and I tense a little. The Samurai was calm.
To our relief, the Puppet accepted the handshake. Once they had completed a long handshake, she started pinching and stretching the Samurai's face as she usually does which the Samurai didn't seem to mind.
Watching this, the Sage leaned over to me and whispered, "is she going to do that to me?"
"Yes."
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
After politely asking, the Samurai closely examined the Puppet's tea pot while commenting, "This is a beautiful tea set."
Eagerly, the Sage peered over the Samurai's shoulder to get a better look. As she did, memories flooded back. In the past, the Sage had told me about how much fun she used to have from just handling the tea set during her time living in the Blue Mountain. Her previous set was destroyed during the assassins attack, so seeing a new one lit up a spark of excitement within her.
"Nevertheless, it'll need a good cleaning before we can put it to use. Would you be comfortable with that?"
The Puppet looked at the Samurai for an awkward silent moment before slowly staring down at the her tea set with wide opened eyes.
The Samurai patiently waited for an answer with a gentle smile on her face, "I assure you that I'll take great care not to scratch it."
After staring at her tea set for another moment, the Puppet finally nodded, although, I don't think she properly understood what she was agreeing to. So while the Sage and the Samurai went to prepare in the kitchen, the Puppet and I waited at the dining table in silence.
It was interesting to see how quickly the Samurai assumed control of the dynamic. It was as if Elizabeth, the rightful owner of this house, had become the guest in her own domain.
As soon as the Marionette took a seat, her emotionless, frozen gaze fell upon me. I couldn't help but hold my breath for a few moments. Like many other fakes, I would always take note of every detail and nuance in a person's facial expressions in order to deduce what they might be thinking. So, having a face that was completely rigid and seemingly artificial staring at me always left me feeling very on edge. How exactly are you meant to read the expression of a person with an unchanging face? Whether it be intentional or not, her perpetual stillness added an extra layer of disquiet to her stare.
Not to mention, what I saw after touching that petal was still lingering within my thoughts which didn't help at all.
Thankfully, my two little knights unintentionally distracted her. They went up to her and proudly displayed the soft toys that the Puppet had given to them during our second visit. My knights wanted to show her how much they took care of their gifts.
Naturally, the Marionette said nothing and barely showed any sort of response. She simply looked at them.
The silence that loomed over the room continued to haunt the table's occupants. The only audible sound were the clinkering and scrubbing emanating from the kitchen. I assumed they were using the water slime balls. They start off as unusable grey balls but all you have to do is pour water on them and they immediately transform into efficient cleaning sponges. Apparently, they also proved useful for injuries as they can provide a cold application when needed, assuming you have cold water.
"Tea is ready!"
The Samurai and the Sage returned to the dining room and placed a steaming tea pot in the middle of the table. When we told the Samurai about the 'pretend tae time" sessions that the Puppet seems to enjoy having, she suggested bringing actual tea leaves. So while we were headed to the Harmless Forest, we took a slight detour to obtain the needed ingredients.
We did find a merchant who was selling tea leaves, which would have been a quicker solution. However, this particular merchant proved exceptionally stubborn, refusing to sell us anything even when the Samurai offered extra money. Fortunately, the Samurai already knew a few places where we could gather them ourselves. The Samurai even gathered extra to bring home back to Fake Town.
Wait a minute... how did they get hot water?
The Puppet leaned closer as if she couldn't recognise her own tea set, even though it barely looked any different. Her head was so close that the rising steam caused her glass-like eyes to fog up. She did not blink once and her nose was close to touching it.
The Samurai gently settled the Puppet back in her chair and used a hanker-chief to wipe her eyes before distributing the tea cups. Now that the cups were clean, they had a slight sparkle in them whenever sunlight touched their surfaces.
With a nervous smile, the Sage picked up the tea pot and went to serve the Puppet's cup first.
As soon as real hot liquid began pouring out of pot, the Puppet's mouth fell open and it stayed wide opened as the Sage continued pouring. Once her cup was full, the klacking gradually started.
"Klack... Klack, klack... klack klack! klack!klack!klack!klack! klack!klack!klack!klack! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!"
Her mouth was moving up and down so rapidly that it looked like a complete blur. The Puppet's whole body was trembling and her movements caused the table to slightly vibrate. This had been the fastest and longest duration I had ever seen the Puppet do this.
But as the table shook, a single drop of tea jumped out and splashed on the table. The Puppet immediately froze upon seeing this.
Then, with slow and shaky hands, the Puppet reached for her cup and grasped it. The cup must've been very hot to touch and yet she wrapped all her prosthetic-like fingers around it without any hint of flinching.
None of us drank or had even poured tea for ourselves as we were all too focused on the Puppet.
When the Marionette opened her mouth, I finally asked myself the question I should've asked a lot sooner: how is the Puppet even going to drink that? The inside of her mouth doesn't lead anywhere, it's honestly just a wooden box. She didn't seem to have a throat, let alone, a digestive track. She didn't even have a tongue so I started to worry about whether she was capable of taste of not.
The Sage seemed to also realised this the moment Elizabeth picked up the cup.
The Puppet didn't seem to care about these facts and 'drank' the tea anyway. Although, it would be more accurate to say that she basically just poured the tea on herself. Because the hot liquid immediately started leaking through the edges of her box-shaped mouth and into her clothes. She then opened her mouth again and poured whatever was left back into the cup.
Seeing all this, the Sage became slightly panicked as she reached for a handkerchief, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, let me clea-"
The Puppet proceeded to 'drink' more tea from her cup before the Sage could do anything.
"KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!KLACK! KLACK!KLACK!"
Tea was splashing on the table now. She would 'drink' some tea, return any leftovers to the cup, only to 'drink' it again. The Puppet repeatedly this several times until she 'finished' her tea. And by 'finished', I mean she had spilled it all over her clothes and the table. Her clothes were now drenched in hot liquid and there was steam rising from her body now. Completely unbothered by all this, the Puppet lifted her cup towards the Sage.
Lily was clearly taken aback by what she just saw, "Y-you want more?"
The Puppet eagerly nodded.
"S-sure."
Once her cup was filled up, the Marionette was about to drink more but then she stopped when she realised that none of us had drank anything yet. She placed her cup down and looked at each one of us. I think she was waiting for us.
It was then Alfred and Cleric started excitedly tugging on the Sage's leg as they too wanted some tea.
Laughing, the Sage politely asked them to take a seat first.
Alfred had long missed tea since he first tasted it during our visit to the Blue mountain whereas Cleric had been curious about it ever since we first mentioned it to him. He had no idea that tea even existed before this and was very excited to try something new.
As someone who has only drank water for pretty much their entire life, I have to say that the tea tasted exceptionally well. It also tasted very different this time. So the taste can vary depending on what type of tea leaf you use, interesting. It was very hot though, so I had to blow on it several times to cool it down, and when I did, I spotted the Puppet staring at me out of the corner of my eye.
But the Puppet was soon distracted when the Samurai sat next to her and proceeded to strike a 'conversation'.
"Are you enjoying the tea?"
The Puppet nodded.
"I'm glad. I was worried you might not have liked it."
"..."
"Have you ever had tea before?"
She shook her head.
"You can actually change its flavour by adding sugar or milk depending on one's preferences, but regrettably, we don't have either of those at the moment. Perhaps in the future."
"..."
"Would you like more? There's still plenty left."
She nodded as she lifted her cup towards her. While being as careful as she could, the Samurai gently lifted the pot and poured her more tea. But after she finished pouring, she didn't let go of the pot, instead she looked closer at it, "This set must be very precious to you."
She nodded.
"Was it a gift from a friend?"
She shook her head.
"Does it remind you of someone?"
She nodded.
Meanwhile, the Sage and I could only watch in awe. It's not easy to carry a purely one-sided conversation and yet the Samurai seemed to be doing it so effortless. The Puppet's unwavering gaze didn't seem to intimidate her either.
As they continued 'talking' with each other, I turned to the Sage in order to start another casual topic, "By the way, how did you two get the hot water?"
"Hmm? Oh, Sensei just flicked it."
"Huh?"
"But don't worry. she made sure her hands were clean first."
"Right." I said. That wasn't what I was wondering about but okay.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
Once tea time was over, the Sage and I helped packed away the cups while my two little knights went back to playing with the toys in the living room, which the Puppet had already set up before hand.
The Samurai pulled out a towel out of her backpack and dried up the Puppet's entire body the best she could since her face and clothes was soaked in tea. The Puppet didn't seem to mind any of this and simply stood there, allowing the Samurai do her thing. The Samurai would later than help clean up all the tea that had spilled on the table, chair and floor with a cloth she found in the kitchen.
Once that was all taken care of, the house tour began as expected.
Somehow, the Samurai continued conversing as usual:
"Aside from all the dust and webs, the furniture is surprisingly in good condition."
"Has anyone ever stayed in these guest rooms?"
"Ah an attic, I've actually never been in one before."
"Oh my, that is a gorgeous view."
"I must say, this house is quite spacious."
"Do you go outside often?"
"How peculiar..." The Samurai said to herself after she placed her hand on one of the walls.
It was like the Samurai had this natural ability to make it seem a whole conversation was occurring even though she was the only one talking. It was even more impressive when you realised that the Samurai made sure to only ask questions that the Puppet was capable of answering, that being, yes or no questions. The atmosphere felt completely different with the Samurai here.
When we reached the Puppet's room, the Samurai was quick to notice the withered flower by the bed. To my surprise, she did not comment on it and was oddly silent when looking around the room.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
We returned to the living room where Cleric and Alfred were in the middle of building a replica of the Puppet's house, even though it looked nothing like it. Upon seeing this, the Puppet started making small, doll replicas of everyone present to add to their creation, which my knights appreciated.
The Sage was inspecting a random opened drawer but judging from her expression, her mind seemed to be elsewhere.
I myself was sat on the dusty couch with my eyes glued to the rocking chair as I kept asking my self the same question: would it be safe to invite the Puppet to fake town? This would be my third time visiting and yet I don't feel any closer to making a decision on the topic.
The more I meet her, the more she just seemed like a friendly Elizabeth fake with an unusual outer appearance. But that rank. I had never met such a peaceful B-rank monster aside from Viridescent. Perhaps my preconceptions about monsters had clouded my judgment here. I used to think that all high ranked monsters were hostile entities. But that pre assumption was slowly being challenged.
And that petal I touched earlier... could what I saw be connected to the Puppet in any way? What if-
The Samurai stood up and approached the Puppet while I was contemplating this.
"I would like to see the basement now, if that is okay with you."
Almost immediately, everyone in the room forgot what they were doing and all eyes snapped towards the Samurai. The moment 'the basement" was mentioned, the mood of the atmosphere drastically shifted as a tense feeling polluted the air.
The Puppet stared at her for a few seconds. She then stood up, walked out of the living room, and gestured with her arm for the Samurai to follow.
The Sage and I were about to get up as well but then the Samurai stopped us, "Actually, I would like to talk with her in private. Do not worry, I will not take too long."
I was slightly confused by this request but the Sage seemed to understand immediately.
I didn't have any reason to object so I sat back down as the Samurai and the Puppet went downstairs to the basement. To be honest, it wasn't really a place I enjoyed going to anyway. That basement was the main reason why I was so torn on whether to invite her or not. On one hand, she seemed incredibly peaceful but on the other hand, what if... what if she turns one of the people of Fake Town into a toy just like the ones in the basement? It was a scary thought to imagine. We're not even sure if it's irreversible or not.
"Sensei probably wants to be safe just in case a fight starts." The Sage answered before I could even ask the question, "you see, a lot of Sensei's skills are very powerful. A bit too powerful. Many of her strong skills will attack everyone who is within a certain range, regardless of whether they are a friend or not."
"I see..." So she's basically what the humans would call 'a double edge sword'. That would explain how her fight with the three generals still managed to wipe out all the soldiers who weren't even involved in the battle.
"Don't you want to have a look yourself?" I asked as I titled my head towards the basement.
"Umm, I'm not sure. From what you described, it sounds like a very scary place."
"It is."
"But at the same time, I'm curious. Now that I've met the Puppet for myself, I almost find it hard to believe that she would... you know..."
I softly hummed in agreement as I went back to watching the rocking chair.
"Unless she..." The Sage placed her hand on her chin as she started theorising.
"Yeah?"
"Actually... I'll wait until we have that meeting with everyone else before I share any of my thoughts. Gives me more time to think about it properly."
To be fair, I also needed more time to think about it.
We both continued our trains of thoughts as my two knights continued playing with the building blocks.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
The Samurai inspected the wooden puppets in the cabinets closely but did not touch them.
The Marionette stood completely still by the locked door as her unmovable gaze remained fixed on the Lily fake.
The Samurai said nothing when she entered the room. Once the cabinets were opened, she simply looked at them for a few silent moments.
Finally, the Samurai turned to face the Puppet. Her lightning katana was resting calmly in her sheath which she embraced with her arms as if she was holding a child. Her weapon leaned against her front shoulder as it always does.
"Were these real people?" She asked.
The Puppet paused for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Were they bad people?"
Strangely, the Puppet didn't answer that question.
"Did you know them?"
She shook her head.
After seeing wooden dolls wearing solider uniforms, the Samurai had a rough guess of what might've happened. But she still had one last, crucial question.
"Can you turn them back to normal?"
The Puppet paused for a moment-
"..."
"..."
-before shaking her head.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
After a few more casual conversations in the living room, it was time to go home. Alfred and Cleric were actually somewhat frustrated since they were in the middle of building a miniature horse with the blocks but they got ready to leave regardless.
As we were walking off the verandah, the Samurai suddenly remembered, "Oh my, I almost forgot. On the way here, I actually picked up a house present for you."
Oh yeah, I also almost forgot about that as well.
Despite not being able to physically form expressions, the Puppet seemed to perk up the moment the Samurai said 'present'.
The Samurai placed her backpack down and began rummaging through it. There were quite a few items in there so she had put both hands in to really search for it.
"When i was thinking about what to give you, the Reaper told me your house lacked any sort of light source, so I got you this..." She pulled out a small leather pouch which contained three grey slime balls, "these are called 'solar slime balls' and as the name suggest, it absorbs sunlight and provides light when they're put in dark places."
They were similar to the water slime balls that can absorb water and act as cleaning sponges which the Samurai had used earlier to clean the Puppet's tea set. According to the Sage, there's even a "wind slime ball" that can absorb wind and can be really nice to have on sunny hot days. The Sage used to have one back in the Blue mountain before their house was destroyed.
Speaking of which, I recently learned that these types of special slimes balls were actually craftable. Back when I was killing slimes just to barely earn a piece of bread, I always wondered why the adventurer guild was always willing to give money for these seemingly useless monsters drops. Apparently you need at least 100 regular slime balls to craft a single special one. When I asked why you need so many for a single one, the Samurai said something along the lines of 'it's a condition set by a common crafting skill. The description specifies that you need at least 50 for a guaranteed chance of success and then another 50 if you want to pick the exact type of slime ball you want."
"Klack! Klack! Klack! Klack! Klack! Klack! Klack! Klack!"
I think I may have finally found the reason behind the Puppet's weird obsession with pinching people's cheeks. It seemed like she just really loved squishy things because as soon as the Samurai placed the slime balls in her hands, she immediately begun squishing it.
"Oh, please don't do that. Unlike the water ones, these will break if you squeeze them too hard."
The Puppet's hand instantly froze in place when she heard that. She continued to stare at them closely. So close that her nose was almost touching it.
I peaked into the backpack and just like the tea leaves, the Samurai had also gathered a few extra to bring home to Fake Town as well.
"I already placed them in the sun for a bit before coming here so they should be able to light up tonight." The Samurai explained further, "Be sure to lay them out in the sun every morning, otherwise they won't light up. Your window should serve as a perfect place to charge them."
The Puppet nodded while still looking closely at her new gift.
"Well, it's been a pleasure, I look forward to meeting you again." The Samurai politely bowed her head before heading out with the rest of us.
After we all waved goodbye, we went on our way.
Still holding the slime ball in her hands, the Puppet stood there frozen as she watched all of our retreating backs until we eventually disappeared amoung the harmless trees.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
As we were approaching the end of the forest, I said to the Samurai, "I'm assuming you've already made your decision."
"I have. However, since I am not the head of the village, the final choice will not be mine to make..." Said the Samurai, "for now, let us first meet up with the others and gather everyone's opinions. I am quite interested to hear what the Reaper and the Scout have to say about the matter."
"I'm sure they're equally as interested to hear what you think, Samurai."
Fortunately, the trip back to Fake Town went without any troubles. As soon as we returned, everyone who had met the Puppet gathered around the fire to discuss. It was finally time to make a decision.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
In a small secluded town, a community of humans had gathered to celebrate and honor the brave saviours who had finally vanquished the monster that had terrorised their homes for years. They had drinks, people performing fire tricks, and a galore of cooked meat for everyone. Children were singing and playing games in the streets, activities that were once impossible with the looming threat of the monster. Some of the older townspeople were getting hugely emotional. In the past, they had hired many promising adventurers, however, all of them had failed or lied about killing it in order to take the reward money. They had lost too many loved ones so they were overwhelmed with joy to know that the monster had truly been defeated.
It was a day that the townspeople would never forget, and they would forever feel indebted to their generous saviours, who even refused to accept any payment for slaying the beast.
Speaking of these saviours, some of them were discussing a certain matter that had come up during their talk.
Once a few more details had been revealed, one of them declared, "I'll go investigate."
"Are you sure? We just got back, you know. Shouldn't you rest?"
"I'll be fine."
"At least take someone with you."
"No need. I'm just scouting after all."
"Every time you say 'scouting', you always end up taking care of the problem yourself."
"Not every time."
"Mostly every time."
The woman chuckled as she prepared to leave.
She had long navy blue hair and was quite tall.
Her clothing was fairly reserved but suitable for battle.
She spoke with a gentle tone, yet her stride and posture displayed great authority.
Despite the warm temperatures, her deep breaths materialised into visible plumes of cold mist.
She wore the same iconic jacket that was respected and fear by many people across the world.
Unlike most humans, this woman had no pupils.
Instead, if you looked into her eyes, you'd only find yourself deep in the middle of an-
empty
bottomless
ocean.
The "saviours" of this town were all elite soldiers, and the name of their leader was:
General Enri
"The Harmless Forest huh... the name sounds a bit outdated now, don't you think?"
...
...
End Chapter
...
...
A/N Chapter
Sorry for posting this a week late. Just when I was about to post it, stuff got in the way and I wanted to write an extra scene and then rewrite one of the other scenes so yeah. Also I got covid. Also also, I finally started posting this story on Archive of our own and Scribble hub. Also also also, I have a few ideas of stuff to add to the discord server but I'm still contemplating that but I'll let you know. I am on holiday now but in two weeks, my family wants to go on a long trip so that may or may not slow down my progress immensely. We'll see.
Once again, thank you all for reading this far and I hope to see you in the next one. :D
This chapter was finished on the 4/12/2023
ns 15.158.61.48da2
