TTT Chapters 11-17 (Patreon)

[Vol. 1 pt. 11]

I ended up surrounded by muscular men who were suspicious of my every move. Lada helped me up onto one of the tables and then sat down behind me. Thankfully, I had my new board with me. I figured there was one sentence I could start with better than all the other ones, so I wrote it down with the marker and showed it to everybody.

I AM FRIEND.

There was something nice about using simple language that got straight to the point.

Since the old woman from before, who I still never got to see, returned to the kitchen due to everybody behaving, the old veteran-looking man took the lead as everybody waited to learn more about me. “Good to know,” he said. “You got a name we can call you by?”

I twisted my upper half from left to right for a no.

“You don’t got a name?”

DON’T KNOW. NO MEMORIES.

“… huh. Do you have any idea how you got out here?”

I twisted my upper half again.

“I see. Well, tell us everything you do know. Don’t leave out a single detail and don’t even think about lying. Even if you’re a Corrupted, I can pick up on any lie.”

I felt nervous even though I never had any intention of lying in the first place. Even so, I took my time writing message after message on the board to tell them everything I knew. I covered everything from waking up hanging over the endless sky to fighting beasts and saving Lada, and I also included information on how my body appeared to change after eating beasts. I wanted to be as honest and open as possible with them.

“Something I don’t get,” the old man said. “What happened after you passed out?”

Lada rose her hand and explained. “I woke up and saw him lead the beast away from me. I knew no normal beast would do that… and he looked so small that I was worried about him, so I got up and followed him. I found him with his eyes closed while he finished eating the beast that attacked me. Then I brought him back here.”

Huh. So, even though I have no memories of it, and despite my eyes apparently being closed… my body continued eating that beast even without any input from me. Not sure what this means. Maybe some kind of autopilot mechanism? A biological autopilot.

I also wanted to ask myself about how I knew what “autopilot” even was seeing as how I couldn’t think of anything it was used for, but I was familiar with the concept and knew that there wouldn’t be any answers from thinking about how I learned it.

“Good job,” the man said to Lada. “Your parents would be proud. They’ve left us with one fine woman.”

Lada smiled just a tiny bit as she lowered her head. “Thanks.”

“And you.” He looked at me. “Good job protecting her. Regardless of what you are, there’s no denying that you saved our Lada, and I think we can all be grateful to you for that.”

I actually felt a little bit flustered by that, so I rubbed the back of my upper half with one of my arm tentacles.

“Cute,” Lada said before pointing at the tentacle atop my head. “It moves on its own when he’s happy. I think.” She sounded like she wanted to explain it to everybody else so they could appreciate it as much as she apparently did.

More importantly, it was really embarrassing to have it pointed out.

“Huh. Guess it is kind of cute,” the old man said. “By the way, I’m Kresimir.”

“Most folk just call him Kremmy,” one of the other men sitting nearby said.

Kresimir shrugged. “Either’s fine by me. That name doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I’m too old to care about petty things like that these days. Anyways, let’s move on. So, you have no idea who you are and you have no idea how you ended up out here. Can you at least confirm you’re a Corrupted?”

I couldn’t even do that, unfortunately. It made no sense for me to be a Corrupted. The Corrupted were abominations that consumed everything living around them to fuel their constantly evolving bodies with no regard for anything but growing. Some religions believed them to be the result of souls that failed to properly reincarnate. Others believed they lived such sinful lives that becoming a Corrupted was not only punishment to them for the lives they lived, but punishment for everybody else to allow them to live such lives in the first place.

To put it simply, Corrupted were meant to be mindless monsters with no desires aside from eating and growing.

I could evolve like them and felt hungry when faced with a corpse, but that was it. Nothing else fit.

Well, there was also the fact that they only appeared near the edges of the world… and I did find myself at the most extreme edge of the world.

CAN’T. MIGHT BE.

SOME QUALITIES MET.

OTHERS NOT.

BUT PROMISE FRIEND.

“I respect the honesty,” Kresimir said. “I feel any normal person would be doing everything in their power to deny the possibility of being a Corrupted. Well, we could always get you read tomorrow. We have a reader in the villager who would be happy to help figure out what you are. I’ve never heard of a Corrupted having levels before. So, if you don’t have a level, we’ll be able to confirm you’re one of them. If you do have one, well, I guess you’re just some kind of soul beast… not that that’d make any more sense.”

There was one way to help rule out me being a soul beast.

ANYBODY MISSING?

Kresimir stroked his beard. “From town? Unless it just happened in the past few hours, which would have been after you woke up out there, no. Everybody’s accounted for.”

If there wasn’t anybody missing, that ruled out me being a beast—well, a soul beast. Or maybe not. At the very least, it ruled out me killing and absorbing somebody from the area’s soul. But also, if I was a beast who turned into a soul beast, I would have retained all my memories from my life as a beast prior to having a soul.

Being a soul beast was a safe option to rule out. That only left me with being a Corrupted or… something else entirely. And if I was something else entirely, I had no idea just what exactly I was.

But that didn’t matter to a certain somebody.

Lada grabbed me by my sides and lifted me up before pulling me back against her chest, hugging me tightly enough that she partially pushed me between her breasts.

“He’s my hero. That’s all that matters,” Lada said.

As kind and respectful as the men surrounding us were, that didn’t mean they didn’t still look jealous when they saw where she placed me.

I couldn’t judge them at all for that. I’d be jealous of me, too.

[Vol. 1 pt. 12]

Lada still had work to do and the patrons of the inn ran out of questions for me since I couldn’t answer what few questions they tried already, so she took me out of the dining area and brought me to a new room rather than take me back upstairs to one of the guest rooms.

She took me to her bedroom.

Well, it was less of a proper bedroom and more of a small storage room converted into a bedroom. The racks along the walls were probably meant for storing containers of food and bottles of alcohol, but they now served the purpose of holding her clothes and various belongings.

At the end of the room was a small bed that took up all available space between the walls. It barely looked big enough for her. Or rather, it was big enough for her and nobody else without overlapping. Well, assuming that anybody else would be at least as big as her.

“She didn’t want you staying in here until we got a chance to talk to you… but me and Kresimir talked to you, so it’s okay now,” Lada said as she placed me on the edge of her bed. She then bent over in front of me to bring her head closer to me… but it was hard to look at her face when she had two massive, hanging breasts right in front of me that took up almost my entire vision. They were impossible to look around. They might not have been physically impossible to look around, but anybody with working eyes would find them impossible to look around because who would want to look anywhere but straight at them? Though, admittedly, I did look up at her face once she stroked the top of my head with a couple of her fingers to pet me. “I’ll be done in a few hours. You can take a nap until then if you want.”

I nodded my head and received a smile in response.

“You’re so cute. And… thanks again for saving me.”

I raised one of my arm tentacles up to give her a little salute and…

Wait, what did I just do?

The act of saluting felt natural, yet I had no idea where I could have learned that from. I had no idea what it was even supposed to mean. It just felt right to do.

Lada looked confused, too. Even so, she mimicked the salute right back to me. “I don’t know what this means… but it’s cute when you do it,” she said.

I wasn’t even sure if I technically had a heart or not, but something throbbed within me when I saw her salute and call me cute again.

There was an overwhelming urge within me to wrap her up in my tentacles to give her a full body hug. She was just way too cute and precious. I also may or may not have wanted to dive into her valley of cleavage to live out the rest of my days there.

But I resisted. She had work that she needed to do. I would have loved to help… but—wait, why didn’t I offer to help?

I picked up the board and marker.

CAN I HELP?

Lada shook her head. “Please stay here and rest.”

I WANT TO HELP.

“You saved me. That’s already more than I could ever ask for.”

PLEASE LET ME HELP?

“But… if you’re out there with me, I’m going to be distracted, and then it’s going to take longer to finish and get in bed with you…”

I was ready to write down my reply until I realized what she said.

She planned on getting into bed with me.

It was going to be me and Lada on our own in bed together.

My mind became full of perverse thoughts involving the two of us in bed together. I was so distracted and giddy over it that I barely even reacted when she petted my head again and left.

She was already gone by the time that my thoughts calmed down.

Dang it. She escaped. If I go out there and force my help onto her then that’s going to come off as too pushy, isn’t it? And I wouldn’t be respecting what she wants. Plus… it would distract her and take longer before we share a bed together. Wait, do I even have… do I even have anything to…

I had no idea if I could even do those things I fantasized about. In my imagination, I basically imagined a cock springing out from between where my leg tentacles were. When I looked down there, though, I didn’t see anything. I didn’t feel anything when checking the area out with my tentacles, either.

I felt incredibly aroused due to Lada and my imagination, but there was no physical difference that was visible.

What about my tentacles themselves? Was it possible that they were sexual organs of some sort? If that was the case, then could I masturbate them somehow?

It was time for experimenting.

My first experiment included rubbing my tentacles against each other. I felt them, sure, but there was no pleasure to receive from that.

Because I was fairly certain that they weren’t sexual organs of any sort and thus wouldn’t make a mess of things, I tried rubbing my tentacles against more things in the room, too. The mattress, the pillow—nothing. No reaction.

What about the tail?

I repeated the experiment with the tail only to get no different result. There was, however, something that I learned about the new tip of my tail tentacle. The “bulb” at the end of it could be spread open like a blooming flower. Small, wiggling tentacles could be seen on the inside of the “petals,” but that was it. I wasn’t sure what the point of being able to open up was. Well, it might potentially be useful for grabbing things if I opened up the bulb and then wrapped the petals around something, but that was it.

All in all, my experiments resulted in an extremely disappointing conclusion.

I had no dick and none of my tentacles counted as sexual organs.

I pulled myself up to the top of the pillow and flopped down on top of it to despair in the results of my research.

That was the plan, anyways. On one of the racks next to the bed was a frame with a picture in it which grabbed my attention instead.

I grabbed the frame and held it above my face to get a good look at it. There was a small girl with short, blue hair and overalls holding a basket of vegetables with an older woman and man standing behind her. Given the context, I could only assume that the girl was Lada and the adults were her parents.

They looked like a cute, happy family.

But once more, my heart throbbed, and it wasn’t because of any positive feeling.

Seeing them look so happy together made an unbelievable sense of loneliness and depression hit me, and it was a feeling that would stay with me as I tried my best to remember my past until Lada returned.

[Vol. 1 pt. 13]

The door to Lada’s room opened and in came a sight that took my mind off of those depressing feelings from before. “I’m back,” Lada said. “We closed for the night and I did my best to clean fast. It usually takes me an hour, but I finished in ten minutes.” She looked adorably proud of herself. She also looked like she was sweating. So, she really did try her best to hurry back to me as quickly as possible. “Here. I thought you might be hungry.”

Walking over to the bed, she set down a stacked sandwich in front of me. It was the thickest sandwich I’d ever seen! Then again, as far as I could remember, it was also the only sandwich I’d ever seen.

It had two thick slices of bread, layers of meat, some slices of cheese—it had everything.

It was also as large as me.

“Is this okay?” Lada asked, looking at me with a concerned tilt of her head. “If it’s not good enough I can—”

I shook my head and grabbed the board and marker.

GOOD ENOUGH. PERFECT. THANKS.

To prove my words, I opened up my body, grabbed the sandwich, and shoved the entire thing inside at once.

It was only after I devoured the entire sandwich in a matter of seconds that I realized what I did.

I didn’t even get to enjoy the taste or anything. I practically swallowed it whole. It tasted great, but I only got to taste it for about a second.

Lada stood there and blinked a few times.

That… that was probably rude. And definitely not how somebody is supposed to eat a sandwich. Right? Crap.

SORRY. DIDN’T MEAN TO—

Lada shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay. You must have been really hungry if you ate it that fast. I’ll go make another one.”

And now it was my turn to shake my upper half.

I’M FULL. THANK YOU.

WILL BE SLOW NEXT TIME.

“Are you sure? And it’s okay. You can eat as quickly as you want.”

SLOW MEANS MORE TIME

TO ENJOY LADA’S FOOD.

“I… don’t think my food is worth slowly enjoying, but it makes me happy that you want to.”

How are you so cute? I want to punch something from how cute you are!

LADA’S FOOD WORTH IT.

Her cheeks turned a gentle shade of red as she turned away. “I’m going to change for bed now. Um… it might be… a little embarrassing if you watch. Could you… please look away?”

Lada was about to change in the same room as me and just the thought of that was enough to make me feel embarrassed. Embarrassed and extremely excited.

But as much as I might have wanted to look, I turned away.

“Thanks,” she said. A second later and I heard the sound of her slipping out of her clothes.

No matter how great the temptation to look was, I remained steadfast in my determination to not look.

I distracted myself by thinking about anything and everything. During my distracted thoughts, I realized something.

She watched me open up my body and devour that sandwich whole right in front of her, and she didn’t flinch in the slightest. She wasn’t scared, disturbed—nothing. The only thing that she reacted with was concern regarding whether I was still hungry or not.

With a girl as pure and as earnest as her, there was no way that I would betray her trust by looking.

“Okay. I’m done,” Lada said.

I turned around and immediately felt like I shouldn’t have yet. Sure, she might have been clothed… but the nightgown she had on probably made her look even more lewd than she would if she wasn’t wearing anything at all.

“Um… is this okay?”

I had no idea why she would even ask that. She looked beyond perfect. All she had on was a light, pink nightgown that put even more of her body on display. Her breasts were practically spilling out of it and it ended just below her hips. Her ass would have been showing if it ended just a tiny bit higher.

But as much as I wanted to tell her about all the horrible things I wanted to do to her, I refrained. She was an innocent girl. I didn’t want to taint that. It wouldn’t be right.

LADA VERY PRETTY.

THE PRETTIEST.

She smiled… and then looked at something on the rack next to the bed and froze.

Was something wrong?

When I looked at where she was looking, all I saw was a long, smooth, wooden carving of some sort. One end of it had a tapered, rounded tip.

Did she want it?

I picked it up, which caused her cheeks to blush the most I’d seen yet, and held it out to her.

She looked so red that I was concerned steam was about to come from her face. Even so, she took the wooden rod from my hand and set it down next to her. “Th…thanks. Can you… pretend you didn’t… see that?”

I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but I was happy to pretend I saw nothing if that was what she wanted. Though, I was curious about why she was so embarrassed about it. It was basically just a smooth stick. What was wrong with that?

Maybe she was dabbling in carpentry as a hobby and felt embarrassed by it?

I didn’t know. What I did know was that, after she put the stick away somewhere that I missed since I was distracted, she approached me on the bed.

I had to keep on reminding myself that she probably saw nothing sexual about the current situation. Just because her breasts swayed around in her shirt, ready to pop out at the slightest bump, was no reason for me to get so worked up. Just because I was alone in her room with her, on her bed, and probably about to share it with her, was no reason to think perverted thoughts about how I wanted to pin her down underneath me and breed her. I definitely shouldn’t have been thinking about coating her from head to toe with cum that I didn’t even have. I absolutely should not have been thinking about taking her normally expressionless face and turning it into one of pure ecstasy.

But it was impossible to not think about those things.

It was probably a good thing that I lacked any sort of sexual organ because I absolutely would have been showing it against my will if I did have one.

The situation grew even worse as she climbed onto the bed, getting onto her knees. Her breasts were large enough that they hung down low enough for their peaks to brush against the mattress as she crawled toward me and the head of the bed.

I must have been staring too hard and turning red because she stopped, with that hanging valley right in front of me, to ask, “Are you alright?”

I couldn’t even think about writing anything on the board. All I could do was nod.

Lada smiled and pulled back the sheets next to where I was for herself, crawling underneath them to lie next to me. “You should get under the blankets, too,” she said.

Even if it was only a suggestion, I accepted it like an order and got under the blankets. There was only one pillow, though, so I was happy to let her have it to herself.

“I want you to use the pillow, too. It’s not fair if I’m the only one.”

That sounded like a dangerous idea because I knew that I’d be thinking even worse thoughts the closer I got to her, but I wasn’t going to turn down the offer. So, I came closer until the upper half of my body was on the pillow.

Our faces were so close that I could feel her breath each time she breathed.

“Comfy?” Lada asked. “It… isn’t much, but I hope it’s good enough.”

It was impossible for me to not ask what was on my mind.

WHY ARE YOU SO

NICE TO ME?

It was like every single sentence that left her mouth was to check up on me. As much as I absolutely adored her affection, I felt like I didn’t really deserve it. It was the kind of care I wanted to experience every day for the rest of my life, and I was worried that I wouldn’t. I was worried there was something I was missing. Something I was unaware of.

“You risked your life to save me. And… you’re really cute. Am I… being annoying?” Lada asked.

She gave me the exact answer I was hoping to hear, and that made me feel even more guilty.

But as guilty as I might have felt, I was even more happy.

NOT ANNOYING.

I’M VERY HAPPY. AND COMFY.

THANK YOU.

“Then…” she paused and looked hesitant, but she continued and asked, “can I… hold you? U-um, I usually… hug my pillow. But… if you’re here… and if you don’t mind… would it be okay if I hold you?”

She might have hesitated but there was no hesitation on my part.

PLEASE DO.

[Vol. 1 pt. 14]

Agreeing to let Lada hug me was both the greatest and worst decision of my life. It was the greatest decision of my life because, well, she hugged me.

Lada held me in her arms and gently hugged me against her breasts. She was nothing but careful with me, never wanting to hurt me or make me uncomfortable. She even checked up on me a few times to make sure that it was really alright and to see if I was still comfortable. She sounded sleepier each time she asked.

As for why it was also the worst decision of my life…

Lada fell asleep rather quickly. She must have been exhausted from working and her body still needed more time to rest after the accident with the beast. That was fine on its own. The part of it that wasn’t fine for my own health was that, as soon as she fell asleep, her grip around me became much tighter.

She hugged me to the point where she was shoving me between her breasts. I was surrounded by warm, soft pillows hugging against my sides, and I smelled her sweet scent no matter what I tried. I also discovered that, while she might not have made much noise while awake, she made plenty of cute little moans and other noises in her sleep.

In other words, I was aroused. Incredibly aroused. Aroused to the point where, once more, I wanted to pin her down, breed her, cover her in my seed, and fuck her until she couldn’t live without the pleasure I give her.

But I didn’t even have a sexual organ.

Sure, I had my tentacles, but what good were those? They were soft and squishy. They were fine for groping and squeezing but not something like penetration. They were better than nothing, sure, but… I wouldn’t even feel any pleasure from it. That meant I would be doing it entirely for her sake, not that there was anything wrong with that.

Even if I wanted to do it for her pleasure alone, though, there was still the problem of her being a kind, innocent girl. I barely knew her, but she gave off that sort of vibe. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if she believed that kissing was how people got pregnant. Also, she was a Chosen. I very clearly wasn’t. I was some sort of soul beast at best and a Corrupted at worst. Sure, some people had no problem with soul beasts, but they were a tiny minority of people. As for Corrupted—well, nobody would ever even think about doing anything like that with a Corrupted.

So, was I really supposed to think that somebody as innocent as Lada would ever be willing to do anything with something like me?

Of course not.

Did that stop me from being horny all night and not being able to sleep?

Of course not.

It was only when the sounds of winged beasts chirping outside could be heard through the walls that I was able to drift to sleep. Probably no more than thirty minutes later, I woke up when I felt Lada rustling around. Though, I didn’t open my eyes until she pulled me out from her breasts.

“A-are you okay?” she asked, clearly sounding worried. Maybe she was afraid she suffocated me.

She basically did suffocate me, but in an extremely enjoyable way. A too enjoyable way considering that it prevented me from getting any sleep.

I nodded.

“Oh… good. I was scared. And… sorry. I didn’t think I would,” she paused to let out a cute yawn, “cuddle you that tightly…”

I might have felt exhausted, but I grabbed the board and marker to reply.

IT MADE ME HAPPY.

I didn’t bother mentioning how else it made me feel.

“It… did? Then… can we do it again? Tonight? I felt so safe with you… that was the best sleep I’ve ever had. I even feel like I could be an adventurer now.” The way that she said that with such a monotone voice was too endearing for me to handle. If I wasn’t so tired, I probably would have gone and found something to choke to death. I had no idea that such cuteness could make me feel so violent.

YES. WE CAN.

I might have been exhausted, but I didn’t regret it.

“Yay.”

Damn it, woman, my heart can’t take this. It doesn’t have the energy to beat this much. You’re going to kill me if you keep it u—

“Lada! Yer two minutes late! Ya think I’m lettin’ ya stay here free of charge?! Get out here! And bring that boy with ya!” the same old, terrifying voice from the previous night shouted.

Lada sighed and frowned. “I was worried she’d want you. I’m sorry, but we have to get out of bed. She’s probably going to make you do work, too.”

Doing work while feeling so exhausted sounded horrible, but it was thanks to them that I had a roof over my head.

AM HAPPY TO HELP.

“But I want to stay in bed with you… I wish we were allowed to stay in bed all day.”

I felt like I was going to explode, but that old woman did again before I could. “Lada! Now!”

Lada whimpered and whined and I even heard her kick her feet a little under the blankets. She was like a child throwing a tantrum. A very monotone, lazy, ineffective tantrum. Even so, she got out of bed and started to get dressed without even telling me to look away.

I figured that she was in a rush and forgot to ask me to, so I looked away on my own.

I was too tired to be horny at that point anyways.

[Vol. 1 pt. 15]

Lada carried me out into the dining area with her. Sitting out there with a disappointed expression on her face was an old woman who looked to be at least sixty years old. Her face was covered in wrinkles, her hair was grey and tied into a ponytail, and she wore simple clothes that showed serious signs of wear. The apron she had on was covered from bottom to top in stains of all colors.

“Look who’s finally crawled outta bed,” the old lady said as she glared at us. Though, that glare was quick to soften as she sighed. “If even a girl as good as you is this disobedient, I can’t imagine what it’s like for folk with worse kids.”

From my understanding, Lada was only a few minutes late past when she was supposed to be up. It sounded more like the old lady just had an extremely low tolerance for patience if anything.

“I’m sorry,” Lada said.

“Bah. Don’t worry about it. All that matters is that yer up now,” the old lady continued. “Goin’ by the fact that yer alive and lookin’ unharmed, I’m guessin’ we didn’t make a mistake trustin’ the little guy there.”

Lada shook her head and hugged me against her chest again. I wished that I was awake enough to fully appreciate that. “He’s my hero.”

“Yeah, yeah. Do we even know if he’s a he? Didn’t see anythin’ when bandagin’ him up.”

Board and marker time.

I’M A HE. I THINK.

I wasn’t sure, but I felt like a he. Probably. Plus, when I had that one dream, it was as an adult, Chosen male. I wouldn’t have dreamt about being in a male’s body if I wasn’t a male, I figured. Then again, that logic wasn’t very good considering that I dreamt about being in a Chosen’s body despite clearly not being a Chosen.

“Good enough, I ‘spose,” the old lady said. “Anyways, welcome to the crew. I’ve been meanin’ to hire some new hands ‘round here.”

“Gr-Granny! He saved me!” Lada protested.

“And? That was yesterday. He should be thankful I didn’t put him to work right then and there. Today’s a new day, so that means it’s a brand-new day for him to prove himself useful.”

Lada sounded ready to protest again, but I cut her off with my board first.

I’M HAPPY TO HELP.

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT

TO DO.

“There we go, that’s some good spirit,” the old woman, Granny, said.

I had no idea if she had a real name or not, but Lada always referred to her as “Granny,” so she became Granny to me, too.

“Now, it ain’t like I plan on runnin’ ya dead on yer first day or anythin’. All I need ya to do is drop by the farm and bring me some milk and eggs. Then by the miller to get me some flour. Once ya’ve got those, all ya need to do is help out around the place and wait for more orders. I’ll give ya a break at noon with Lada. The weekend’s over now, so ya won’t be workin’ late, either. Just until after dinner, only eleven hours. Your pay is not gettin’ kicked out for not helpin’ out. Understand?”

If all of that was what I had to do to repay them for helping me, and to stay around Lada some more, then I was happy to help.

I held the board in one tentacle to let her know I was alright with it while saluting with my opposite tentacles.

“Heh. Yer pretty smart. Too bad there ain’t more like ya ‘round these parts,” Granny said. “Now, stay put. I’ll get us breakfast and tea.”

Granny might have looked like an old lady, but she moved with just as much grace as any younger person once she got up and went back into the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Lada sighed and sat down at the nearest table with me. “I’m sorry. She’s so bossy…”

IT’S FINE. I LIKE HER.

AND I WANT TO HELP.

IT’S OKAY.

“You… like her? Are you… into bossy women? I… don’t think I’m that bossy.”

LADA IS PERFECT

AS LADA IS.

“I hope so… anyways, I love Granny, but I only like her sometimes. I wish she’d be nicer to people.”

SOMETIMES PEOPLE

NEED SOMEBODY WHO

WILL YELL AT THEM AND

HOLD THEM TO HIGH

STANDARDS.

“I know that’s not wrong, but… I really want to go back to bed with you. I’m not even tired. I just want to be lazy and cuddle with you all day.”

CAN CUDDLE TONIGHT.

WORK DURING DAY.

Lada sighed again. “Granny is going to love you. But… if you’re going to try your best, then I’ll do my best, too.”

BOTH DO OUR BEST

FOR CUDDLING TONIGHT.

“For cuddling.”

A few minutes later and Granny came back with breakfast and tea. It looked like we were having salads for breakfast.

I just had to remember not to devour it all in an instant this time.

[Vol. 1 pt. 16]

As it turned out, even if it was just a salad and plain tea… Granny was amazing when it came to preparing food and drinks. Lada’s sandwich was great, but Granny’s salad was on an entirely different level despite the simplicity of the ingredients. Between the salad and the tea, I felt wide awake and ready to put in a hard day of work!

All I had to do was go get milk and eggs from the farm, flour from the miller, and then come back. Simple tasks. Granny said that everybody in town would already know about me, too, so I wouldn’t have to worry about anybody freaking out at the sight of me like they did the night before.

But when it came to actually leaving the inn, I stopped at the inn’s entrance and turned around to wave at Lada even though we already said our temporary goodbyes.

She was already looking at me and ready to wave back.

I didn’t want to leave her, but I didn’t want to get on that old woman’s bad side even more. So, I took a step outside.

Then I turned around to wave again.

Lada was still there waiting and ready to wave back.

The process of walking, stopping, and waving repeated itself a few more times before I figured that I should seriously go and perform my tasks.

As much as I might have missed Lada… I couldn’t help but feel relaxed when I actually looked around outdoors.

The town before me could not have been any more peaceful. It was rustic and quaint—the very ideal of those.

A cobblestone path connected the inn to the rest of the village, and all the buildings I could see were made of either stone or wood. Trees lined the path and separated the buildings in addition to surrounding the area in general, and the cover they provided only allowed small rays of sun to shine through the gaps in the canopy.

One of the buildings had a small stream running behind it that I only noticed because of the large, rotating waterwheel connecting the building to the stream. That same building was also at the edge of a circular group of buildings surrounded what looked like a little town center that had a water fountain in the center of it. It was only after making it into the center that the canopy faded away and allowed the sun to shine down in full force.

And surely enough, everybody who was out didn’t seem disturbed by my appearance at all. Some folk gave me curious looks and there were a few little kids whispering to each other between taking glances at me, but that was it. What the old lady said about news traveling fast was true. Saying it moved fast was probably an understatement if anything.

“Hey!” a familiar voice shouted out. The voice belonged to none other than Kresimir. That young guy from before was with him, too. Maybe he was an apprentice of some sort? They both had swords on their hips, so maybe a guard and his trainee?

Regardless, I waved one of my tentacles at him.

“I let everybody know to watch where they’re going so they don’t accidentally step on you! Just give them a poke if any feet get a bit too close for comfort, alright?”

You’re so much nicer than you look, I thought as I nodded.

With that, Kresimir gave the man next to him a smack on the back and continued walking to wherever it was they were going.

He stopped a few steps later to shout, “By the way! That building over there,” he pointed straight across the plaza, “is the reader’s shop! I suggest paying him a visit while it’s early. Trust me, the later in the day it is, the worse his mood is!”

I wasn’t sure if that was something he should be publicly shouting about, but it was kind of endearing in a way. That told me that the people around here were friendly and comfortable enough with one another that something like that was acceptable.

Either that, or he was kind of rude.

Whatever it was, I nodded again before taking his advice and heading over to the building he pointed out.

That was how I found myself in front of a small shop with a couple of windows in the front wall. I wasn’t able to see into the shop itself given my height, but I did see the large, growing plants directly behind the windows. There were even more plants outside of it in pots on the ground and hanging from the windowsill, too.

Hopefully he’s heard about me too or else this might be awkward.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

So many different scents hit me at once that I had no idea what I was specifically smelling. There were rows of shelves stocked full of different plants and other ingredients that made it obvious what kind of shop I was in. I was inside an alchemist’s shop.

Something about that was nostalgic. Nostalgic to the point where I felt happy just seeing all the different ingredients. Plants, different types of grass, vials of dirt and various liquids, feathers and eyes—beast eyes, hopefully, and far more.

It made sense for a reader to double up on career when it came to a town that looked so peaceful and small. Only major towns and cities with lots of adventurers provided a steady supply of work for them.

“One moment, please!” a feminine voice shouted from the back of the shop.

I wished that I could shout back that it was alright.

Kremmy made it sound like the reader was a man. Maybe an assistant?

A moment later and the owner of the voice came rushing out to the front, leaning over the counter to look around for the customer. The customer being me. She probably expected somebody taller.

She was kind of cute, too. She was a shorter girl who clearly had a bit of chub on her, but in a nice and healthy way. A huge pair of round glasses took up most of her face, but the rest of her facial features were small and rounded. Her brown, curly hair bounced against her shoulders, and the shirt she had on looked like it was covered in dirt. Possibly from dealing with more plants in the back.

And when she finally looked down, she blinked a few times before showing me a massive smile. “Oh! I heard about ya! You’re the new guy in town! Hi! Name’s Mirna! Oh, hang on!”

And just like that, she went running into the back of the shop again. Another moment later and she came back to the front with a man nearly twice her size in tow, and he looked much less excited about meeting me.

“Come on, be social and say hi!” Mirna said, tugging on the man’s arm like a child with their parent. Only, going by the fact that I noticed they both had wedding rings on, I had a feeling their relationship was a lot more intimate than that.

It didn’t surprise me at all that she was married. She was cute and energetic. Men loved women like her. If anything, I was still amazed that Lada didn’t have a ring on her finger, too.

As for her husband, he looked just as young as her, probably in his early twenties, but he had short, black hair with sharp facial features and a defined jawline, muscles that his shirt did a bad job of hiding due to looking maybe a tab bit too small for him, and an annoyed expression on his face. But as annoyed as he might have looked, he still greeted me. “I’m Dobrin.” He looked at Mirna. “Can I go back now?”

Mirna shook her head and wrapped her arms around Dobrin’s arm, pressing her chest up against it. “He needs a reading! Kremmy said he’d be stopping by!”

He groaned like it was a massive bother. “Let’s get this over with then.”

[Vol. 1 pt. 17]

With a smile, Mirna came out from behind the counter and revealed that her left leg was gone and replaced by an artificial, wooden leg. It looked pretty well made considering that it could bend like normal and keep up with her. More importantly, she picked me up and set me down on the counter in front of Dobrin.

“You ever been read before?” Dobrin asked me.

Good thing I brought the board and marker with me.

DON’T KNOW.

“Right. I heard you don’t have any memories. You at least know what a reading is?”

THINK SO.

“Good enough.”

Dobrin sighed and took his gardening gloves off before reaching forward with his right hand, pressing the entirety of it against the top of my body.

I felt my very soul flowing within me, and I felt his soul through his hand as it interacted with my own.

“Isn’t Dobrin amazing?” Mirna asked me. “He’s so cool, right? I wish more people around here needed readings… but I guess that’s what happens when you’re in a small town at the edge of the world like this. Not many people come and visit here, and it’s not like there’s a lot of adventuring work to be had around here. Only the guards ever come by.”

Dobrin might have stayed silent, but I saw a tiny hint of red color his cheeks despite his annoyed expression.

I only just met them and already knew they were perfect for each other.

The tall, muscular, brooding husband with the short, chubby, energetic wife.

Cute.

“Done,” Dobrin said, pulling his hand away and severing the connection of our souls. “Level three,” I let out an internal sigh of relief. Having a level meant I wasn’t a Corrupted, “… but no cap, and something felt… off with your soul. I’ve read Chosen and soul beasts before. Their souls feel different. Yours felt more like a Chosen’s, but something’s wrong with it.”

Time for more writing.

WHAT WAS WRONG?

“I’d tell you if I knew. Can’t know what it is if I’ve never experienced it before.”

THINK I’M CHOSEN OR SOUL BEAST?

“Again, I don’t know. I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling you either right now. I have no idea what you are. Now, you want to keep asking questions or can I give you the rest of the reading?”

I nodded. He already sounded like he was getting in a worse mood.

“You have a few skills already, all level zero. Acrobatics, Combat Expertise: Unarmed, Combat Expertise: Grappling, Resistance: Poison, and Throwing. For being a level three… that sure is a lot of skills you’ve got unless you lost some levels.”

He looked suspicious and I couldn’t blame him.

“There’s one more you’ve got. Figured it deserves a spot on its own because I’ve never heard of one like it. Corruption.”

Well that doesn’t make me sound like a Corrupted at all.

“There’re even an ability attached to it, and it’s the only ability you have. Assimilate.”

Going by how I felt so hungry after killing those beasts and then experienced physical changes by consuming them, that must have been the Assimilate ability. It seemed like the condition of having an eligible corpse to consume was the trigger for it, and the change it had on my body was the effect of it. The name made that theory even more likely.

AGE?

“Not sure. There are signs of your soul being old, but just as many of it being new. Other than that… all I can say is that your soul is scarred, and I’m not talking about the usual scars. Traumatic events don’t leave scars anywhere near this big, but you do have dozens of smaller scars that might have come from those. Not even dying would leave a scar this big. And for whatever it’s worth, so we at least know something about you, I’d guess you’ve died seven times before.”

“Hehe,” Mirna giggled, “I still have the record for the oldest soul in the village!” She placed her hands on her hips and held her head high. “My soul has been around for twenty-three cycles! We think.”

Twenty-three cycles. Twenty-three lives, including her current one. That would make her soul at least a thousand years old unless she had a lot of unfortunate, early deaths in her past lives.

“Alright, grandma,” Dobrin said, showing the first sign of anything other than angst by teasing his wife.

“You’re just jealous you’re a little baby soul, Mister First Life,” Mirna teased back, standing up on tips of her toes to repeatedly poke his cheek.

I swore that I saw just the tiniest hint of a smile on Dobrin’s face, but it disappeared in the exact same instant that it appeared as he remembered that I was there. “You done here? I told you everything I read.”

The two lovebirds must have wanted some alone time together. Or rather, Dobrin did.

YES. THANKS.

“Oh! By the way,” Mirna said, “if you ever need any help with plants or potions or anything, feel free to stop by! I learned under the best alchemist this village has ever seen, so I know a thing or two! I like to think so, anyways.”

I nodded and hopped off the counter with board and marker in tow.

I didn’t even make it to the door before I heard the two whispering to each other. One quick peek back at them before going through the door confirmed that it was Dobrin taking Mirna into the back as she giggled in his arms.

I wonder if I’ll ever get to hold a giggling Lada in my arms. Though, I guess she’s not really the giggling type. She’d probably stare and smile a little. That’d be enough for me.

Giving the couple their privacy, I left the shop and carried on with my tasks.

At least I knew a little bit more about myself after that.