We spend a few days at the orc village, helping them rebuild as best they can. The older orc kids really step up in terms of things. I don't really remember my childhood, but I really doubt I would be capable of handling such a trauma as well as they are.
In almost no time they construct an outline of sorts for a long house out of the remaining wooden logs and planks, salvaging what little they can out of the wreckage.
The one who had mistakenly bummed the kids out with mentions of mothers seems to be particularly handy. All the other kids call him Giz, I don't know if that's a nickname or if the Orc names were just really varying. Cherry, Broker, Giz, and the one with the mohawk is named Tramp, but that one HAS to be a nickname, right? Right?
Broker, Cherry, Giz, and Tramp work in tandem, building and attempting to arrange the long house into something livable. Geline is surprisingly helpful with this.
The slime that Geline and Blobert are made of is capable of changing its composition, allowing the villagers to use it as a sort of adhesive. It was super strong too, and according to Geline, as long as she was alive it would stick. The rules of this world are insane! I thank my lucky stars once again that Geline and her brother are on my side.
The long house isn't quite finished the first day, so we make a fire and tell stories under the stars. The children are doing their best to pull through, telling tales of before the attack, parties and pranks.
I feel bad, but I can't help but wish the system was up so I could level up my speech skill, as is I can only rasp a few words here and there. Deeper meanings and nuance are completely lost, but at least my words seem to be clearer to them.
I do my best to bring smiles to their faces, using Wood Transformation to make silly or funny wooden toys for them. It takes a little bit of magic power but it's more than worth it.
Blobert and Geline fall asleep beside each other, a little after the orcs, well besides Broker.
"So… Tree spirit… Sorry for how I reacted when I saw you…" He cuts the silence. How did he react? Oh right, when I had first turned into a Treechild. He definitely seemed pleased with me, but I couldn't understand his language before.
"I lost my daughter in that attack… She was of fighting age and did her best. But that human with the curly hair killed her. Used some awful power… Made her use her own sword to…" Broker starts choking on his own tears, the memory clearly too much for him to bear.
"I…. Wish…. Grew sooner…" I pat his shoulder. Yeah, definitely not good at this comforting stuff. Or so I think, but it seems to help Broker.
"T-Thank you, forest guardian, you are truly kind and brave." Broker says, holding my wooden hand against his shoulder. Oh boy if only he knew, I was definitely not on my high list of kind or brave people. I had some morals of course but I was no hero.
"We leave… soon…" I break the news to him. I know we can't stay here, me and the slimes that is. The rest of the world was probably in total disarray at the moment. I am sort of glad I hadn't been born a humanoid right now, I can only imagine how chaotic the cities are at the moment. In contrast, the peaceful but dark forest is kinda nice. Well, having Geline and Blobert around to dissuade any monsters from attacking is probably helping out immensely.
"I-I assumed as much. You have the whole forest to look after, not just its inhabitants." Broker nods, he's wrong but I don't want to correct him. "We'll always remember what you and the slime lords did for us." Ugh, slime lords? Sounds too close to slum lords, we'll think of another name later.
The following day, we finish the long house without a single hitch.
As the last long is being hammered into place as I take a walk around the perimeter. I'm not too sure what I'm looking for but my eyes are peeled, well as much as they can be for wood.
And then I hear a rustling. Uh oh, monster? I'm sort of far at this point from Geline. But i'm evolved now, maybe I can put up a fight…
As I ponder what my combat abilities might be as stocky wooden mannequin, a baby creature sniffs out of the bush, looks up at me, and keels over.
"Oh shit… Did I kill it…" I kneel down and take a closer look and realize it's the baby version of that possum-like creature. Oh, it's playing possum! Breathing a sigh of relief, I stand up and am about to turn when I have a realization.
"Oh shit where's the mom." I breathe out fast, turning around in circles. I don't hear or see anything. Getting a little brave, I peer inside the bush that the baby had came from. Inside is the rest of the litter, but no sign of mom. Was this normal possum behavior? I return moments later with Broker, pointing.
"Oh, you found some Pawlley young." Broker says, nodding. "They're a little young to be left by their mother already, but if there's a lot of monster activity, or the mom is already pregnant with another litter, she'll hide them in a berry bush somewhere she thinks is safe. She is probably already long gone, off delivering her second litter. But there's not a lot of wild life around lately after the raids."
I frown, I know that the mother had only caused me trouble before, but these babies didn't have anyone to take care of them. I lean down and pick up one of the Pawlley babes, petting the back of it's head with my wooden hand. It seems to understand I mean no harm, looking up at me with its big round eyes. God damnit! I already have so much on my plate..
"We'd be honored to raise them, forest guardian." Broker says, and I internally relax. "Pawlley are quite versatile and if you raise them when they're this young they can be very loyal."
"Thank you…" The small critter in my hand climbs up and rests atop the crown of bark atop my head.
"That one seems attached already, will you take it with you, forest guardian?" Well I suppose one won't hurt. I nod.
The kids are excited to see the babies, well who isn't when it comes to fluffy little guys. Cherry seems to be holding herself back from fawning over the litter, around twelve in total besides the one on my head.
"So you want us to raise them, forest guardian?" Cherry questions, looking at me quizzically.
"P-Please… mom gone…"
Cherry nods at this, and lets the small smile she's been holding back go as she picks up the one with the most silver in its fur. All the critters had dark gray or silver fur on their main body, with white fur on their faces ringed in black that separated it from the grey. They had pink four fingered feet attached to stubby gray furred-legs. Their tails were long, and unlike the possums I remembered, they had fluffy tails like feather dusters. It seemed their spines were still soft on their tail in this juvenile form.
"Hm they won't be able to protect you like this." Says Geline, looking at the babies. Is she worried about what will happen once we leaveX oh Geline you big softie. I smile up at her and she looks away.
"I-I'm merely going to give them all names. Well the same name, naming twelve monsters is a lot of work already without the different names." Geline says, the orcs look on in confusion and I remember they can't understand the Tongue of the Land, they're probably closer to true humans rather than demi-humans like the beast men I'd heard about.
"She… Name… Them… get stronger…"
"Aw I wanted to name mine!" Says Giz, holding objectively the silliest looking babe, with its tongue lolling out. "He was gonna be lil Giz…" Giz Pouts.
"We can still give them nicknames dumbass, it's just for the stat boost." Says Tramp, who surprises me everyday with how knowledgeable he is. I had learned a lot about the demon fortress, but more about that later.
"Say thank you." Broke growls.
"Thank you miss slime queen!" The children cheer in unison. Geline can gather their meaning by the tone and blushes, looking away. The kids giggle at this display and Broker coughs, silencing them once again.
"I name you… " Geline looks around, trying to think of a name on the spot before her eyes settle on me. "The Cedar Pack!" If I had been drinking anything I would have spit it out. A faint glow permeates out of her, and the paisley's furs all have slight blue spots, sort of like dalmatians, on the gray and silver parts of their body. They also seem to shoot up from babies to juvenile size, each now about knee height with the children.
"Juvenile Poison Pawsley, not as scary as their adult counter part, but if you encounter a rare pack, turn the other way, their spines aren't as sharp or hard as their mothers, but the numbing agent they have, due to slime intervention, more than makes up for it!" Numbing agent?! Jesus, these are terrifying.
"Big Dog Title Acquired." Huh, so I can still get titles, and some information, maybe this is Red's doing. She was able to force those levels on me before. I'd have to remember to thank her later. Well, if she was nice.
Thankfully the pack seems to be more than happy with their orc caretakers. I wonder who will end up taking care of who in the long run, something tells me I don't need to worry about this village that much anymore.
"Oh you forgot one!" Cherry points to the one still atop my head left unchanged. Geline follows the line of sight, and turn towards the babe. She's getting ready to amend her mistake when the critter hisses.
"Hm… Seems she wants a name from you." Says Geline, looking at me with a wry smile. A name from me? Oh shit, I can't think of a name on the spot.
"Uhm… Well, I'm Cedar… You can be Thorn." I reach up and pat the top of her furry head, and a green light envelopes the Pawsley. I feel my magic draining at a crazy amount, the strain creates. a pain behind where my eyes should be. Uh oh, this must be what Geline had meant about it taking a lot out of you. And she named twelve of these things?!
"Oh no I should have warned you…" Geline's voice is drowned out by the piercing pain. It finally subsides, and I realize I had kneeled at some point.
"Oh ouch…"
"You gave her a first name, silly, that takes a lot out of you." Geline sighs, rubbing my shoulder. "Why do you think I gave them a pack name?" She laughs heartily.
"Good to know…" I groan, and then I am promptly astonished.
Standing, well sitting back on it's haunches, is a fully adult Pawsley. She looks a lot like her mother, but the color scheme has shifted to red and brown instead of silver and white. Her tail resembles a thick and thorny rose bush, and seems to uncurl to around and impressive six feet. On her haunches she's easily taller than me, but she licks her paw and gets back on her paws, padding over to me and rubbing against my chest.
"Whoa, you grew up fast huh." The children look on in awe as I pet Thorn.
"You sure are strong, miss forest guardian." Says one of the little girls, looking up at me.
"Don't be dumb, forest guardian is definitely a guy!" Says one of the little boys.
Well kids, your guess is as good as mine.
"Not… boy… not girl…" My voice rustles out.
"Well what do we call you mister forest guardian?" Asks the little boy, not quite getting it.
"Me… Ce… Dar…" Did Geline have to pick a name that was two syllable, those were a lot harder for me!
"Sidair." Say the kids in unison and awe. Whatever, close enough.
"Sidair, my liege," says Broker, playing it safe on the pronoun game but still messing up on the name. "Thank you so much for all you've done for this village. We will do everything we can to repay you and protect this forest."
"Thank… You…" Honestly I have no allegiance to this forest, but knowing the mildly terrifying help they had now with the new Cedar Pack, well it did a little to ease my worry. "Just stay… safe…"
Looking up at Geline, I can tell she doesn't want to leave, she's immortal after all she can become a demon lord later. I wish we had time for that too.
Out here in the sticks, it's easy to forget that the rest of the civilized world is falling apart at the seams with the loss of the Alicean Stone. Campfires and bonding and building is definitely what people are meant for. Maybe I should just let it all crumble.
Even if I could, I did promise Red, and for some stupid reason, I kinda liked her. Why on earth I'd have any warm feelings for someone who could be directly responsible for every predicament I've been in, but I do. I must have truly been such a weird person in my past life.
"It is time." Geline nods, practically reading my mind. "We should go see what this new demon king has to offer."
Blobert looks even more sad then Geline, he keeps looking between us and all his new friends. He probably wants to stay and play with the new furry friends too, but he also doesn't wanna leave his sister.
"Blobby… You can stay if you want." Says Geline, who turns away, hiding her face. She definitely doesn't want to leave behind, but the village would probably be safer for it, and Blobert could spend time with other beings around his maturity level.
Blobert looks pained, well as much as a gelatinous slime blob with a single line for a mouth can. But he turns, using his slime to create a hand and wave goodbye to the children.
"We go now… Stay safe…" I tell Broker, and then nod at the kids. Tramp and Giz give me cheeky little salutes, but Cherry turns away.
"Cherry…" It's complicated. I almost killed the kid when I first came here after all. And it seems like I had left her with that seed mark when I blessed her back to full health. Did she hate me, I mean it wasn't thee be of the world but I didn't want any of the kids to hate me, I had somewhat of a heart after all. Or maybe… Was it wood…?
"You'll come back right?" Cherry asks, snapping me out of my reverie.
"Come back…" I agree, nodding. Cherry smiles and nods back.
A few more tearful goodbyes, and we head out on our way. On the road once again, and this time to help out a bratty deity. We're headed to Fort Kessler, and from what Tramp told me it used to be a veritable hub. Before the humans got greedy with the spirit contracts, which seems to have pushed the world into a state of unrest and unease which each civilized species more or less cutting themselves off from one another, thing we're good.
Before the human kings got greedy, all the civilized species would trade and socialize and intermarry. In the past there had even been kings who were of mixed descent in the various kingdoms, some even led by the minorities.
And then the first heroes arrived. They seemed to be able to do things no one thought was possible, but there was one who wasn't as heroic as the others. That hero had chosen the Skill Dominion, or at least that's what I guessed. They seemed to be able to control other people, and made the other heroes into their vanguard, creating a human empire that no kingdom had ever reached before. However the so-called heroes kept their villainy to within the humans as far as most could tell.
Then one day all the heroes simply vanished. The human kingdoms went into turmoil. All the fire power had disappeared overnight, and they were left without generals or political leaders. There was an intense power struggle until someone claiming to be the descendant of a hero took the throne. With the loss of the heroes, the human kingdoms were desperate to make connections with the other civilized species, fearing an attack that would leave them destitute. This is when humans and spirits had first struck up an alliance.
That's when someone claiming to be the descendant of the first heroes appeared in the human kingdom. He could do magic on the scale of the heroes, defeating high level monsters and healing people from near death. And he was the one who had came up with the way to enslave spirits with the contracts. His magic wasn't his own, no, he had trapped a powerful spirit beast with one of his contracts, and had full access to its power.
In the modern era, that hero has probably perished by now, and the sprouts have long since evacuated any human lands, which seems to be one of the driving forces in their current slave trade.
Of course I still have a lot of questions. It's like every time I learn something it turns up another loose end. These heroes were probably from my world, or maybe even another world like this. And at least one of them was just a huge piece of shit and brainwashed the others, and one day they disappear? And then some new guy shows up and says he's related to them.
Adding this to shit Red definitely needs to explain to me once I help her.