Chapter 362: Saturday Signanigans

———Useph———

<1: 08 pm>

“Ugh. This place is so worn down…” I remarked, feeling a bit of disgust at the sight of it.

“It is a war-torn area, so that is to be expected.” Orrel chimed in. This area is filled with holes and debris scattering about. Barely any humans in sight, and most buildings look like they don’t even have electricity.

“What the hell are two brats doing in a place like this?” An old man with a cane said as he approached us.

“Just looking around.” I dismissively said. There’s not much to do here with any sort of trouble coming from external forces. Anyone that lives here is said to be on the passive side of things.

“Hmph. As if there is a lot for anyone to look at. Are you satisfied yet?” He said with irritation.

“Nah. We’ll look around a bit more, right?” I said while looking at Orrel.

“Right.” He replied.

“Will be seeing ya, I guess.” I said to the old man before the two of us walked away. I don’t think conversing with that grumpy old man is a good use of our time here. “He sure is a sore guy.”

“That is to be expected in a place like this. I’m surprised he hasn’t moved out.” Orrel spoke up. “...Perhaps the ties to one’s home are weighing him and the others down quite a lot.”

“If that’s the case you would think they will light up their spirits and fix the whole place.” I pointed out. You’d think they would try a little bit harder.

“That is perhaps expecting way too much.” Orrel said with a subtle look of disapproval. “It’s not as if resources are easy to come by around here, and those who are experts in construction and other relevant fields are very valuable and costly nowadays.”

“Yeah yeah, a ton of logistics involved or whatever.” I dismissively replied as we continued to walk around. It’s surprising that a place in disarray like this isn’t a hotpot of violent gangs, monsters, or demons. It’s just full of people who aren’t willing to fight. It’s a weird combination.

It’s not a large area either, which probably explains why they can’t defend themselves against the horde of violent thugs causing skirmishes around these parts. There’s not a lot of people here in the first place, and after all the incidents most of them either died off or left.

“Hmm… There’s no nearby Fantarban Realm, right?” I asked after a moment to think.

“Unfortunately not. Even then I don’t think there is anyone here who can haul resources from a place like that.” Orrel answered. I don’t think it’ll be that hard. It’s not like… Hmm…

“I guess that’s fair.” I can’t come up with a good counterargument and leave it at that. “Still… This place is really dirty. Do they not have water?”

“Hard to say. At least it doesn’t reeks.” Orrel added. We still don’t see many people, and most of them look rather miserable.

“Ugh, it’s more painful the more we look at it.” I remarked as we stopped near a broken down building.

“It’s to be expected with the state of the town being like this. Hard to even call it one.” He said in response. “I think we have seen enough, unless you want your mood to get even worse.”

“Yep, we are definitely getting out of here!” I said loudly before taking a few glances around. “Hopefully this place will look a little bit better later on.”

“Did you seriously need to try that?” Orrel asked with a tone of disapproval.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I said with a grin.

*Bang* *Swat*

“There it is…” Orrel said with a tired tone as I defected the bullet away with my bare hand.

I looked at the person shooting at us, he looked very haggard as one would expect.

“So, big guy, what do you have to say?” I asked as I approached him. He’s not actually someone physically intimidating. He looks rather miserable, even.

“W-Wait!” He said, cowering just from me flexing a little bit. He clearly heard what I said, saw our pristine condition and thought we are rich kids easy to mug. Looks like this place isn’t quite lacking in bolder folks.

“Why don’t I teach you a little lesson!” I said with a fist raised.

———Jeff———

<1: 44 pm>

“So… I think we visited at the wrong time.” I awkwardly said as we looked at the fight happening right now.

“That is very clear.” Sixson said, also bewildered by the timing. “This is quite troublesome. We’re not even here to look for a fight.”

“At least not as the main objective.” I added. We all want to flex our strength a bit. It sounds like an insane reason to travel so far, but you have to admit it is quite the flex to be able to travel leisurely and still have the strength to kick some ass. “Anyway, thankfully like all the other times, the invaders have some very clear tell. Should we help?”

“At least we should prevent any casualty on the defender’s side. Perhaps it’d be best to not extend our hands too much.” Sixson suggested. So we don’t get seen as saviors or something. It’s not like we have never shown up randomly to save people. “Besides, forcibly joining in would cause a lot of confusion.”

“...Fair enough.” The fight has already started and both sides might attack. “I guess we’ll stick with sniping them. Wish me some luck here, it’s not my favorite tactic.”

“Just don’t blow holes in people, please…” He exasperatedly said as I aimed at the invaders with my finger, just pointing at them and observing.

“Don’t worry about that.” I said with a smile while observing the fight below. We are watching it from the rooftop so we have a pretty good view of everything happening nearby. Sniping is obviously going to be on the cards.

*Shine* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

I shoot out multiple small magical projectiles that quickly pushed back many of the invaders. Those are small bullets that are hard to trace so they have no idea where they came from.

“Sniper!? What was that!?” Someone shouted out before running away in panic. Everyone who is defending the town is confused at what’s going on, but they aren’t running away from the scene like the other group.

“Hah! A bunch of bullseyes.” I remarked as I stopped pointing and put my hand down. “Sixson, were you planning on doing anything at all?”

“Making sure you aren’t going overboard is good enough.” He answered. Still not a jolly fellow.

“Whatever. Now that we’re done with that, let’s go do that thing we were gonna do.” I said before jumping down the building with him following suit. “Now then… where is it exactly?”

“Hmm… Should be in that direction.” He said while using the map app as the guide, taking the lead for me who couldn’t be bothered pulling out my own phone right now.

———Lynda———

<2: 07 pm>

*Munch* *Munch* *Munch*

The little eye monster began gobbling the fruits down as the two of us watched.

“…How long is this gonna go on for?” I asked as I leaned back on the bench.

“Probably not for too long. It has already grown quite a bit.” Emmie answered as she stood there observing its eating. “Can’t be longer than this semester, at least.”

“Really? You sound weirdly confident about that.” I remarked. That is like… four to five months later? I need to double check the date at some point. I was never good with that, and school work has been going smoothly so far so I don’t feel like desperately counting down when it’ll all be over. If anything, I really like all the cool stuff this place has, so stressing over all the academic stuff is kinda worth it… or almost worth it. “What is going to happen once the class pet project is over?”

“Something hard to account for.” She vaguely stated.

“Okay?” That doesn’t give me much of anything to speculate with. What in the world am I supposed to say outside of a bewildered acknowledgment? “…Why are you the one saddled with this anyway?”

“It needs a good influence.” Ex-fucking-scuse me?

I stared at her with probably the most ridiculous expression I have ever made in my life.

“…Like by your standard?” I said with a hoarse voice, still feeling the mental impact from what she said earlier.

She doesn’t say anything as she continues to stare at the tiny little thing continuing to eat a massive amount of fruits. How did they even produce those so quickly?

“…So wasn’t this thing something from that stream from Karra? I’m surprised she’s not the one raising it.” I said to keep the conversation going. It feels awkward to just end it there with that bombshell.

“Because I choose to do it.” She bluntly answered without any elaboration. I’m pretty sure she said that before, but even now she never truly explains why she, of all people, is doing this.

Maybe if I understood her a bit more I could ask a question that would figure it all out, but even her friends know so little about her. If they can’t figure her out, how am I supposed to do that?

“Okay, but is there anything in it for you?” I asked that just to see if some basic incentive is involved.

“Not really. Thrills, I suppose.” What thrills? Raising a pet is a chore, and from what I’m seeing this little thing isn’t really cute or cuddly. Is there some sort of secret to raising a monster that I’m not aware of? That Terry person sure hasn’t elaborated on anything like that… and is this even the same kinda thing? Something about this monster Emmie is looking after certainly has an odd vibe to it. Feels a bit too docile, too civilized. I don’t care if it’s a baby monster or whatever. A monster by nature is aggressive, and nothing is telling me that it was placated beforehand.

“Right, thrills…” I am still completely baffled by every word she is saying. The more I try to understand it feels like I know less. “Speaking of thrills. Why don’t you go out there like the others do? Why not bring the little thing with you as well?”

“No need for it to see the wider world just yet, and not in this state.” She answered. Now what does that even mean? “Besides that, I do occasionally go out, but as it stands I am not in the mood for it.”

“As if anyone could tell what your mood is like.” I said while my head creeks up to look at the clouds. “Quite a sunny day today.”

“Indeed, but the temperature is still quite cold. Spring will be upon us soon, but even then the weather has been fair so far.” She remarked.

“…That is something we really should be talking about more, or at least for the important people to do. For us it means very little at the moment.” I said while returning my focus to what’s in front of me. The little thing is almost done eating all the fruits. It kinda looks like it is swelling up a bit, but that could just be my mind playing a trick on me.

“It’s very close.” She remarked as she continued to observe it. She certainly isn’t taking this easy. Does she actually find this fun? “Closer than I would have imagined.”

“Close to what?” I asked, wondering what she meant by that.

*Shine* *Weave*

She then suddenly starts creating something using that broken innate ability of hers, creating a large blanket. Considering how it was made I wouldn’t be surprised if it could withstand a lot of punishment.

“What are you…” I was about to ask her to elaborate before seeing the little monster finish eating everything and doesn’t fly back to her side.

*Squish* *Squirm* *Crackle* *Crack* *Squish*

“Uh!?” I can’t put into words what is happening right now. Its sole reddish purple eye is staring right at us while the rest of its body is growing and contorting violently, its row of tentacles and wings are squirming and stretching out like rubber. “Why is it staring at us like that!?”

“Not done imprinting.” Emmie answered. What the hell does that mean!?

*Squish* *Squirm* *Crawl*

“W-Why is it moving towards us like that?” I asked, terrified but not feeling like I should move.

“Hmm…” Emmie muttered to herself before her eyes wandered towards me. “It might need more samples…”

*Grab* *Stab*

“Gah!?” What the hell is she doing!?

“Relax.” She said despite suddenly stabbing me with whatever the hell that was and collecting my blood!

*Stab*

She also stabbed herself and let her blood drip into the same bottle while the weird growing thing is still crawling towards us!

*Splash* *Squirm* *Slurp*

She then pours it over the creature and it’s consuming it. I didn’t even realize so much blood was extracted out of me with how small the wound was. It’s already closing up for me.

*Wrap* *Squirm* *Weave*

She then wrapped it up in the blanket as it continued to trash around, and then she knitted it close so it’s almost like a shell around it.

“What’s going on?” I finally spelled that out after being completely bewildered for the past minute.

“You’ll see the result later. For now, you can have this.” She said before handing me another spell card and a… key? “You shouldn’t use the latter item right now. Don’t try anything funny with it.”

“Wha- Then why give it to me?” I said in confusion, but she already left with the cocooned baby monster.