The days passed by in a slow, unremarkable haze. Every morning, I'd wake up, eat breakfast (Yuri had made that deer into some delicious jerky, let me tell you.), and then spar with Yuri. After that, I'd do some basic physical training. Generally, that entailed running around, and lifting exceptionally heavy rocks. It was unpleasant, but I didn't have much else to do. I couldn't even go spank one out in the woods, because Yuri didn't want to let me out of her sight.
...That got really gross. I'm sorry. Now, what was I talking about? Oh, yes! The fact that I was completely, totally, mind-numbingly BORED!
I'd been cooped up in this area for over a week now, and I was getting sick of it! I loved Yuri, but her constant watchfulness was really starting to piss me off. I get it, this is supposed to be a punishment, but come the fuck on! I'm... like 19 or 20! (I don't know this body's exact age, but the point still stands.)
Yuri had practically stonewalled me whenever I asked her about when she'd drop the punishment, so I had no earthly clue when that was gonna happen. For all I know, she could have me stuck here until the end of time. I doubt she'd go that far, but you get the point. I loved Yuri, but man, she was a stubborn bitch when it came to making decisions like this. It would've been endearing if it wasn't so fucking inconvenient.
Ah whatever. It's not like I can do anything about this. She'd most certainly catch me if I tried to sneak out. Even if I managed to elude for a night or two, she'd most certainly tear up the countryside until she found me. Then, she would probably proceed to beat me like a rug. Of course, I'd have to deal with that eventually. I would have to escape her to start my journey with Luka. If I was lucky, I'd get a full day's head start. Whether or not that would be enough to give her the slip, I didn't know. I'd just have to find out when the time came.
Hell, why was I even thinking about this? All it's doing is making me upset. I had to leave, sure, but that was later. Right now, all I had to do was exist. Everything else was secondary.
For a few hours, I laid under a tree, indulging my lazy side. It was nice to just... sit around and think, every now and then. I could hear the whistling of the wind, and the soft murmurs of rustling leaves. I felt the warm, dusty ground below me, which felt surprisingly comfortable on this particular day. It was all very relaxing. I didn't really like the outdoors, but peaceful moments like this were never unwelcome. Mother Nature, while a cold, unforgiving bitch, still had its occasional nice days.
Of course, nothing lasts forever. Eventually, I got bored of merely lounging about. So, since there was literally nothing else for me to do, I decided to go talk to Yuri. I didn't care much about the topic itself, as long as it distracted me from my boredom.
She was sat on the ground, her back pressing up against the wall of the house. Though her hands were preoccupied by the sharpening of her short-sword, I could tell that she was ready to spring forwards if I decided to try and run. It was kind of freaky, honestly.
"So..." I grunted, sitting down beside her. She looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. For a moment, I just sat there, awkwardly trying to puzzle out in my head just what I should say. Eventually, I settled on: "Tell me a story."
Yuri continued to stare at me, seemingly uncomprehending. After a moment, she returned her gaze to her sword, continuing to sharpen it with a whetstone.
"...What kind of story would you like to hear?" She asked eventually, her voice low.
For a moment, I pondered on her question. What did I want to hear? Yuri had lived for a lot longer than me, and I really of wanted to know what kind of antics she got up to. On the other hand, she really didn't like talking about her past, and I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Hmmm...
"You've traveled a lot in your time." I heard myself saying. "Can you tell me about any interesting places you've been?"
She stilled for a moment, her face taking on a contemplative expression.
"I've definitely seen a few interesting things in my time." She muttered. "Is there anything in particular you want to know?"
Okay, we're starting to make some progress here. Now I just need to figure out what to ask about first.
"Have you ever been to Grand Noah?" I asked. "I heard there was a coliseum there."
Immediately, Yuri's face twisted in disgust. Clearly, she did not like this topic. For a moment, I didn't understand why. Then, my brain caught up with me, and I remembered what the coliseum was really like.
"That arena is filled with nothing but degenerates and rapists." She stated coldly. "It is a disgusting place of debauchery."
...It seems like there's a story there. Considering her suddenly vitriolic attitude, I'm guessing it's a bad one. Probably best to talk about something else.
"Well..." I began, suddenly feeling a little uneasy. "What about Grand Noah itself? Surely the entire city isn't that bad?"
She shrugged, letting out a gentle sigh as she did so.
"It was alright, I suppose." She said apathetically. "I didn't spend much time there, to be honest. I had been on the run for months at that point, and a lot of people were looking for me."
As much as I wanted to ask her about her time on the run, I figured that was probably a conversational landmine, so I decided to ignore it for now.
"Well... What about Yamatai?" I enquired. "I heard that the people there worship monsters."
The disgust on her face was wiped away almost immediately, replaced with a much more wistful look.
"I... actually grew up near Yamatai." She muttered, her voice sounding just a teensy bit wobbly. "It's a lovely little town, provided you can tolerate some of the townspeople's strange traditions. Not much ever happened there, until..."
She trailed off, looking down at her hands. She let out a sad sigh, and shook her head.
"I don't want to talk about that anymore." Yuri muttered.
She was quiet after that, deciding to focus on maintaining her weapon. I sat in silence, thinking over what little bit of info I'd been able to gather. So, Yuri was from that area? She'd never told me much about where she was from, so that had been interesting to hear. Though, it seems like I made her uncomfortable, which was the exact fucking thing I was trying to avoid. Good lord, I'm a fuckup.
...Anyways, since Yuri was now yet again refusing to speak, I decided to go find something else to do. Perhaps I'd find bug to watch, or maybe I could convince myself I was tired, and go to sleep? The opportunities for distraction were quite limited.
Whatever. I'd figure something out.
*LINEBREAK*
It took another seven days for Yuri to see reason. Seven days of nothing but sleeping, sparring, and intense boredom. It was... tiring, to say the least.
But all of that was behind me now! Yuri had finally lifted the grounding (though she did still want me to be home before dark), which meant that I could finally go back to the village. Lord knows Luka was probably worried sick, so hopefully his fears would subside upon seeing me alive and well.
So, after my daily spar with Yuri, I strapped my short-sword to my side, and set off on my journey to town. The sun was out, and the wind was quietly whistling through the trees. It was pleasantly warm out, and just a tad bit humid. All in all, it was shaping up to be a really nice day.
So of course, something just had to go wrong!
The bullshit all began when I stepped in a puddle of what looked like water. Evidently, that was a really stupid assumption to make, because the 'puddle' immediately wrapped around my leg, attempting to restrict my movement. With a curse, I leapt backwards, ripping myself away from the sticky substance.
The 'puddle' began to bubble up in front of me, a feminine shape beginning to form before my very eyes. In about four seconds, a slime girl was standing before me.
"Oh, a human!" She exclaimed, looking hungrily at me. "You smell delicious~"
I stared at her for a moment, readying my blade. There was something... familiar about her. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I'd seen her before.
I could ponder that later. Right now, I needed to figure out how to get past her. Killing a slime was possible, but it was also a chore. I didn't want to waste time on her, because I wouldn't get anything from her death. She had no meat, and no red. Her very existence was useless to me.
"...You know what," I grunted suddenly, coming to a realization. "I don't have to put up with this shit. Have a horrible day."
And with that, I quickly sidestepped the slightly confused slime, and sprinted towards Ilias village. She called out after me, but couldn't keep up. That's what happens when you literally don't have legs, I guess.
Now, you might be wondering why I didn't deal with that slime. After all, I was a bit of a battle junkie. Well, to put it plainly, I just didn't have the time to deal with her bullshit. Yuri wanted me to be back by sundown, and I wasn't going to deny her that. The consequences would be severe.
Once I made it to the village, I was about to pass by the guard, but I stopped after a mildly concerning thought popped into my head. That slime had been pretty close to the village, and she was probably desperate enough to make an attack on the town itself. It probably wouldn't be successful, but the guard might still get slimed. So, I did my civic duty, and warned him.
"Hey, dude." I called out to the guard, walking towards him. "There's a slime pretty close to the village. I'd be careful if I were you."
It would've been a dick move to not tell him. I didn't want anyone getting raped because I was too lazy to kill something. At least this way, the guard knew that something was out there.
That logic was probably stupid, but I didn't care. Slimes annoy me, and I'm not gonna deal with one unless I have to.
My words must have worried the guard, because he was suddenly a lot more attentive to his surroundings. He moved a little closer to the village, but his eyes were locked onto the woods from which I'd just appeared.
"...Thanks for the warning." He grunted, tightly gripping his spear. "I'll tell the other guardsmen. Just... get inside."
I gave him a thumbs up, and walked away, entering the town. Man, I hoped he didn't get hurt because of my laziness. That would really suck.
As I traveled down the main street, I noticed something a bit odd. Everyone I passed by seemed a bit more... energetic? People weren't meandering aimlessly. They actually seemed to have a purpose, for once. Maybe there was a festival coming up? I didn't know about any celebrations they might be having, but then again, I wasn't exactly well-versed in this town's culture. All I knew is that they were a bunch of unfortunate bastards who worshipped an absolute bitch. That was all I needed to know, really.
Eh, it was probably unimportant.
I found Luka in the field where we normally met. As per usual, he was so enveloped in his training that he didn't notice me as I walked up. Mentally, I made a note to work on his situational awareness at some point. Getting ambushed really, really sucked. My countless victims could attest to that.
...Ok, maybe I shouldn't be calling the monsters I've hunted 'victims'. It made them sound relatively innocent, which they sure fucking weren't. If somebody's first instinct upon seeing someone else is to rape them, then they deserve to die. That's just how it works.
Anyways, after observing the purple-haired shota for about a minute, I decided to make my presence known.
"Hey, Luka!" I called out, walking towards him with my hands at my sides. He looked over at me, a relieved smile splitting across his face.
"Alex!" He exclaimed, running over to me. "You're okay!"
...That was a bit of a weird thing to say. Of course I was fine. I hadn't been in any danger, and the lie I'd told him didn't sound very perilous, either. Sure, I'd been gone for a while, but surely a week wasn't that unreasonable?
"I wasn't gone that long." I grunted, crossing my arms. "Besides, I just went to see my relatives. It's not like I was fighting for my life, or anything."
Abruptly, Luka's expression shifted from mild concern to mild exasperation. He gave me a disappointed glare, which actually kind of hurt, to my surprise.
"Whatever..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Let's just... get to training."
I blinked, confused about where this sudden pissiness was coming from. Luka was clearly upset with me, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.
After a moment, a scary thought wormed its way into my head. Did... did he know that I was lying? Is that why he was mad?
...Nah. Luka's dense as hell. He was probably just annoyed that I was gone for so long.
"Alright then," I grunted. "Let's get to it."
We sparred for several hours, and worked on basic exercises for a while afterwards. I won't bore you with the details. All you need to know is that we trained until it was almost sundown. By then, we were both exhausted, sweating up a storm in the heat. Luka was worse off than me, but I was still feeling all kinds of aches and pains.
"Fuck." I grunted, plopping down onto the grass. "Today was a real workout."
Luka nodded, but said nothing. He was panting heavily, his body burning with heat. It seemed like he was close to having a heat stroke, which was... worrying, to say the least. Still, he wasn't quite at that point yet, so I figured he could deal with it himself.
As I looked over at him, I once again felt a terrible itching in my throat. Shaking my head, I grabbed my hip-flask, and drank deeply. Once I was satisfied, I screwed the cap back on, and hooked it to my belt.
Looking over at the setting sun, I silently pondered whether or not I could make it back to the house before sundown. After a moment or two, I concluded that I'd get there on time if I didn't dilly-dally.
"Well, It's getting kind of late." I said, slowly standing up. "I'mma hit the road. See you later, Luka."
Having said goodbye, I turned around, and started on my way home. I'd taken no more than three steps when I heard Luka call out after me.
"Alex, wait!" He exclaimed, running after me. I stopped walking, and looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" I asked, my voice flat. "I need to get home soon. What do you need?"
He hesitated for a moment, his face scrunched up in concentration. He was obviously thinking about something, but what that was, I couldn't tell you.
After a moment, he sighed, taking on a resigned expression.
"...Nothing." He mumbled quietly, shaking his head. "See you tomorrow, Alex."
With a mental shrug, I nodded, and walked away. Something was clearly bothering Luka, but I figured that he'd tell me if it was really important.
As I trudged through the woods, my mind wandered back to that slime I'd encountered earlier. Why did she seem so familiar? Slimes weren't all that common around here, so it wasn't like I encountered them all that much. Actually, I was pretty sure that the only one I'd ever seen was the one who attacked me when I first got here...
...Son of a bitch.
Almost unconsciously, I slapped my hand to my forehead, letting out a frustrated groan as I did so. Good god, I was a moron! How the fuck had I not noticed that immediately?! For fuck's sake, it was so obvious!
"...You have got to be fucking kidding me." I growled, angrily rapping my knuckles against the side of my head.
I had a chance to kill the first bitch to ever try and rape me, and I fucking let her go! I legitimately let a pedophile live because I was too fucking lazy to fight her!
And now, she was long gone. I couldn't even go hunt her, because slimes were nearly impossible to track. One of the upsides to being an amorphous blob, I suppose.
Letting out a long, heated string of expletives, I resumed my walk, angrily clenching my fists as I went along.
After about fifteen minutes of marching through the forest, I made it back to the hidden field which contained my house. Yuri was sitting outside, reading quietly. As I stalked past her, she looked up from her book, one eyebrow raised.
"You look upset." She observed, her tone neutral. "Did something happen?"
I gave her a tired, slightly frustrated glare. Of course something happened! Why would I be so upset if everything was fine? What was even the point of that question?
"...Yes." I grunted, a harsh frown on my face. "And no, I don't want to talk about it."
Yuri shrugged, and wisely decided not to pursue the topic further. It was a small mercy, but it kept me from blowing my top, so I was thankful nonetheless.
Silently, I trudged over to my room. Upon entering, I belly-flopped onto my bedroll, and closed my eyes. I just wanted this day to be over, so I figured it would be best to just go to bed immediately.
Sleep was unusually hard to get ahold of, but I eventually managed to wrangle some for myself. As I laid there, drifting off into unconsciousness, I idly pondered just how fucked up my situation was. Of course, those thoughts didn't last long. Soon, tiredness won the battle, and I faded into the world of dreams...
*LINEBREAK*
Upon appearing once again in that familiar area filled with clouds and holy light, I let out a long, suffering sigh. Of course something like this would happen. I was already having a shit day, so why not top it off with a visit from the sociopathic bitch who had a god-complex the size of Jupiter! Great! Just fucking GREAT!
Of course, outwardly expressing these thoughts would've gotten me killed, so I settled for driving a thumb into my thigh with enough force to penetrate the skin. To my immense dismay, it didn't hurt at all. I mean, this was technically a dream, so I guessed it made sense.
Ilias made her appearance via a bright flash of light, looking angelic as usual. She had a warm smile plastered across her face, but her eyes were colder than ice.
"...Howdy." I said, my voice stilted. "Is... Is something the matter?"
Ilias shook her head, her expression never fading.
"Not at all, my child." She chuckled, her voice bright and friendly. "I just felt it best to inform you that your journey with Luka shall begin soon."
...Oh. Fuck.
Okay, I knew this was gonna happen someday. I'd been prepared for this ever since she first contacted me. Still, what did she mean by "soon"? A few months? Weeks? Days?
"...How long?" I asked simply, knowing that anything I said would be heavily scrutinized.
Ilias smiled, pleased at my response.
"Four weeks from now, on the date of my birth, Luka shall receive his baptism." She declared, her angelic grin never fading. "I would like you to be baptized as well."
I froze for a moment, a sudden fear piercing through my heart. I... really didn't want to get baptism from this bitch. I had no idea what effects that might have on me, and I didn't really want to find out, either. The only thing that I really knew was that it made your semen taste like Angel Liver (Which didn't sound all that bad, actually. I'd totally eat Angel Liver.), which wasn't really comforting knowledge!
Of course, communicating this would likely lead to my death, so I simply nodded my head, and responded with "Yes ma'am."
Hopefully there'd be a distraction like there was in the game. It had been about a decade since I arrived in this world, so my memory of the game's story was a little fuzzy. I'd tried to remember the important parts, but memory could only go so far.
Ilias didn't have much else to say after that. She went on a whole spiel about how important faith was, or some other shit I didn't care about. Then, she theatrically faded away like she always did, leaving me alone in the clouds.
*LINEBREAK*
I awoke early in the morning, feeling groggy and sore. I could hear the buzzing of insects and the chirping of birds through the thin walls of my house, informing me that it was time to get the fuck up.
With a groan of displeasure, I got up from my bedroll, dusted myself off, and exited my room. Yuri was already awake, preparing breakfast on a small table she'd put together at some point. It wasn't much, just some dried meat and wild berries, but it looked pretty good.
"So... are you going to go train your friend today?" She asked, not looking up from her task.
"Yeah." I responded, nodding. "Why do you ask?"
She paused for a moment, thinking over her words as she quietly slid some breakfast onto a plate, before handing said plate to me.
"No reason." She eventually said. "I was just curious."
...That seemed suspicious as fuck.
Blowing off the sudden nervousness I felt, I quickly ate the food on my plate, before resting it back on the small table. Then, I sat down, waiting for Yuri to finish eating. Once she was done, we both headed outside for our daily spar.
I really don't see a point in describing it to you. It went about as you would expect. I get the shit kicked out of me, Yuri gives me some pointers, and we move on with our lives. Nothing else needs to be said.
So, after that, I grabbed my gear, and headed out towards Ilias village.
It took me about an hour to get there, but then again, I wasn't in much of a hurry. It was a nice day outside, so I figured I'd stop and "smell the roses", so to speak.
...Yeah, I'm definitely stalling. I was still in a bad mood from that dream the night before, and I didn't really want to be around that purple-haired fool when I was pissed off. So, I decided to give myself some time to cool off.
With a sigh, I leaned against a tree, feeling the soft morning breeze on my skin. The temperature was fair, and it wasn't very humid, either. All in all, it would be a perfect day to just laze about and do nothing. However, I couldn't afford to do that (And even if I could, I wouldn't. I'd had enough of that when I was grounded, thank you very much!).
My musings were interrupted by a sudden, nervous feeling shooting through my spine. It was a sensation that I recognized immediately, which only made things even creepier.
It was the feeling of being watched.
Cursing internally, I kept still, listening for any hint of noise. I heard nothing, which scared me more than if I had heard anything. My instincts (usually) didn't lie, so I knew that something was stalking me. The fact that I couldn't hear any strange sounds probably meant that whatever was looking at me was incredible at stealth, and thus, incredibly dangerous.
Forcing myself to look nonchalant, I slowly stood up, and began walking again. As I trudged through the woods, I sneakily glanced around, trying to catch sight of my stalker. I was unsuccessful, which made me all the more nervous. However, since I still hadn't been attacked, I continued onwards, walking quickly through the woods.
After a few minutes of travel, I began to hear a strange sound. I wasn't sure how to describe it, but it seemed like... flapping. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, either, which made it even more peculiar.
It wasn't until the noise was right next to me that I decided to look up at the sky. By that point, it was impossible to dodge the large feathery thing that was headed my way.
In an instant, I was snatched into the air, an iron-hard grip digging into my shoulders. The wind whipped against me as I started rapidly gaining attitude, my efforts to wriggle away from my captor quickly made basically worthless.
So, if you somehow hadn't figured it out yet, I'd just been grabbed by a harpy. Why? Well, I couldn't tell you. I mean, Harpy Village was about fifty miles away, so there was absolutely no logical reason for one to even be near me!
"Gah! What the fuck!" I loudly exclaimed, glaring up at my kidnapper. "You can't just grab people like that! What's wrong with you?!"
Obviously that was a stupid question, but I wasn't exactly in the best headspace in that moment, so I feel like a little stupidity could be forgiven.
Also, the harpy that had taken me looked... really formidable. Like, she was wearing plate armor, and her expression was dead-serious. Considering the fact that normal harpies were goofy morons who didn't wear armor, this particular one was quite odd.
"Quiet, fiend." She sneered, her grip tightening uncomfortably. "If I weren't ordered to deliver you alive, I'd have killed you already."
For a moment, I was completely taken aback. I wasn't sure what I expected her to say, but it certainly wasn't that. Of course, after the initial confusion wore off, I felt my face heat up with anger. I didn't like being called names, and I certainly didn't like judgmental pieces of shit who obviously didn't know a damn thing.
"Excuse me?!" I roared, looking up at her. "I haven't done shit to you! Why the fuck are you treating me like shit when you're the one that just randomly fucking grabbed me?!"
I made to strike at her, but realized that the subsequent fall would probably result in both of our deaths. So, I settled for just angrily shaking my fist at her.
"You have perpetrated several murders." She coldly responded, her words like icy daggers stabbing into my heart. "Not only that, but you have also aided the infamous criminal Yuri Aera."
...How did she know all that? I mean, the only people who even thought of me as a murderer were some villagers in Enrika...
...Oh. Shit.
So, one of those bastards had most definitely ratted on me. That was the only answer that made sense, and to be honest, I feel like an idiot for not expecting something like this to happen sooner. I mean, a bunch of them had already tried to get their own revenge, so when that failed, the others probably decided to get help. As for why they decided to get a harpy to capture me, well, I didn't know. They'd also clearly snitched on Yuri, seeing as how seemingly nobody cared about her before. In hindsight, she probably should've been discovered years ago, so somebody dropped the ball there.
Fuck, this was a really bad situation. I mean, I was basically captured already, since killing my captor would result in a five-hundred-foot fall. I wasn't entirely sure if I would die from that, but I did know that I wouldn't be walking away afterwards. Either way, I was fucked.
"Look, I don't know what you've heard, but those so called 'murders' were all in self-defense, an-" I began, before being rudely interrupted by the harpy.
"Shut up." She growled. "You will have your chance to explain yourself during your trial."
I felt my eye twitch. I really, really didn't like being cut off. If I had even a slight chance of walking away unharmed, I would have stabbed her already. Alas, it has been established that I can't do that, so I simply growled and flipped her the bird.
...Heh. Now that I think of it, I just flipped a bird woman the bird.
...I'm sorry. That sounded less cringey in my head.
A/N: Sudden cliffhanger is sudden indeed.
So, we're finally seeing proper consequences for some of the unfortunate incidents our main character has been involved in. A lot of people in Enrika see him as a murderer, so they're going to do their damndest do see him punished for it.
If you're wondering why Yuri hadn't been discovered years earlier, well, you just have to remember one thing. Micaela is the person who handles almost all documentation and mail within Enrika (at least, I assume, considering the fact that she's the mayor, and there's no official postal service within the world of Monster Girl Quest.). She probably did her best to suppress knowledge of that. This time though, it seems some elves have had enough, and went directly to the harpies.
Now, the reason they went to the Harpies is simply because the Harpy Queen is the only queen monster in the region. As such, it would make sense for her to be the highest authority among monsters in the area.
Once again, sorry for the long wait, and sorry if this chapter isn't that good. Some things have come up in my life (which I am not going to share here), and I've also been afflicted with a horrible case of Writer's Block.
Tell me if I've made any obscene continuity errors. I'm tired, and I can't catch everything.
