Chapter 12: Wonders

"Come, let's go everyone!"

She led me by hand towards the hill on the edge of the village, a field of flowers on its peak. On her other hand she tenderly led her precious younger sister — barely even three — walking clumsy steps like a little ducking following her older sister's whims.

"This is a good spot. Fresh air, lovely atmosphere — don't you think so, Key?"

She hands me Ela, giggling happily from the flowers' tickles, and sets up the large blank canvas she had me carrying along up to the top.

"Now, I just hope I catch the scenery right. Hmmm... maybe move a little to the left?"

I followed her fussy orders with a heavy frown until she satisfied herself with the position I first began with.

And with her trusty paintbrush, she paints. Beautiful shades of blue, green and pink dances on top of the snow white canvas like fairies in the forest night. My head would unconsciously follow her brush's every sway, but she'd snap at me to stop moving. But she didn't mind Ela rolling around. How unfair.

I remember her angry (but cute) pout as she revealed how she once dared to dream of herself as a great painter, and how cold harsh reality smashed her on the face in the form of a rejection slip from the Capital University.

"...Finally done! This is my next masterpiece, and I shall call it: The Boy and and Girl in the Field of Many Flowers! It's perfect!"

And indeed, her painting is what you can call good, especially for someone her age, but it sparked no emotion within me. It was a flat painting of me (smiling—her only creative input) and the playful young Ela sitting in the flower field, paired with an equally flat title. Nothing else.

But she brushed off my displeasure like nothing and instead carelessly threw something shiny to my direction. She then took the little Ela to her tender embrace and sang her a lullaby, with nothing but the soft winds to accompany her childish high-pitched voice.

I asked what the shiny thing was (I didn't know about pocket watches until I heard about them), and Erika smiled in return.

"It's a clock from some basta... friend. Yes, but she's a friend I can't trust, so it's a useless piece of junk... you can have it. Jeez, I'm getting annoyed just from remembering!"

At first I rejected, feeling guilty of accepting too many gifts from her, but I couldn't help it once I saw her really toss it to the trash later on. I just didn't want to see it go to waste, and if one day I tire of it, I'd sell.

But I didn't. Why didn't I?

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

The scene transformed, the tranquil blue sky transitioned into the raging pitch black of a heavy thunderstorm.

The door was slammed opened, inviting the chilling winds to shake the insides of our humble library. Pages flew everywhere and tableware broke, but amidst the chaos she stood there unflinchingly, like a bamboo stalk, her beautiful blue hair swaying along to the wind's whims.

"I'm going for a walk. Can you take care of Ela for me?"

She had nothing but the dirty tunic she wore and a heavy broadsword—the Magistrate.

The noise of the storm was drowned by the cries of the little child shivering in both cold and in fear.

"Mom! Don't leave me! Bring me with you! Mom!"

A thunderclap shakes the very foundations of the library. But it wasn't what frightened Ela. It didn't scare her anymore.

"Mom!"

She reaches towards her sister's direction, but I hold her tight within my embrace. The cold of her skin pierced through my soul, and I began to waver as well. A part of me thought that all along it was all an elaborate joke, another one of her harmless pranks. But those emerald eyes did not lie.

"I'll be back one day, Ela, so don't cry. At least be happy your sister's done so much for you. Sister. Not. Your. Mom. Get it right."

"I'm sorry, mom! Please come back! Please!"

"..."

I gave up. I began to reason with her as well, pleading to her, saying that what she planned was nothing but a fool's errand. Nothing but another one of her delusions. But she merely shook her head.

"Don't hesitate. Hesitation reveals your lack of conviction. And without conviction there is only death... I can't hesitate, not now."

Her next prophetic words were muted from my memories. I don't remember why. But I remember her eyes, filled with both madness and love. I remember how I noticed her hands slightly shaking, just like that faithful day she asked me to protect her. I remember her full blood-red lips moving ever so slowly, mouthing the string of words that brings a shrill pain straight inside my skull.

"**************************************"

She turns her back and takes a step forward. A stray drop of rain manages to enter the library. Stop her. My mind was shouting to itself, but I didn't move. Stop her. Stop her. Stop her. Stop her. I hesitated in grabbing her hands. I don't know why until this day. There was nothing more to be said after that. Dragging her broadsword Magistrate along, she headed towards the dangerous ruins deep within the Farwitch Forest, disappearing into that dark and stormy night.

And in between Ela's deafening cries and the thunderstorm's fiery howls, I found myself disliking reading books. How mysterious.

And then, I wake up.

[Floor Minus 20]

Smoke rises from the ground hot from battle, and the smell of flames sears my nostrils. The fight against the Slime Master Reduxer was over before I even knew it. Rather, these adventurers were just too fast.

The moment we entered the gate that lead to this boss room, no one (except me) wasted a single breath in bringing down the slimy giant transparent blob with almost impossible autohealing properties. Both Damian and Liri distracted the monster with their long-ranged attacks, while purplehead continuously trickled its life with poison. In the right time, baldy's spell charges completely, and he strikes down the poor slime-y creature with one giant slash of his "Heaven-Rendering Flames of the Goddess" move, sending its HP down to zero. Scary. But their movements, not a single trace of surprise and hesitation, must mean they have fought the slime master reduxer before.

"Let's not waste time and carry on!"

Baldy orders everyone to move out as he pulls back his slimy axe buried deep into the stone floor.

And that is how we deal with the first boss. It's too easy, anticlimactic I would call it. At least give me some of the action.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

[Floor Minus 25]

Our journey continues without much further incident.

There's something I noticed, something I wouldn't normally notice since I don't care enough, but somehow it bugs me a lot. Liri has been awfully quiet ever since the day began. She'd join in on my blackboard storytelling with Damian the glasses kid, and she'd laugh at the funny parts and cry at the touching ones, but she stopped giving her own input and instead just stare at me with that inquisitive glint in her eyes. Should I ask...?

Of course not. As long as I act the same cool guy/girl I am, nothing's gonna change. Or so I say, but I'm really just too sleepy to think of a reason. All thanks to that dream I had last night. It's been years since my mind replayed that scene from the night Erika left. I wonder why, is this what happens when I don't see Ela for more than a day? This crushing loneliness, this gap in my heart must be what makes me sleepy. Yeah, I wish.

"Anything about yourself?"

Liri suddenly asks me a question out of nowhere, stooping to peer straight into my hanging head. I reply with a yawn, because I'm a sleepy bastard. That's why. Why did she suddenly speak to me now?

Maybe because we're both alone? A distance away from us the group is busy solving the riddle to unlock the heavy stone gate that leads to the next floor. The riddle randomly changes every time it's opened, but I think we got something extra hard this time.

"Got it! This riddle must be an allegory to some ancient text! I'll check my books!"

"No, it's a monster... I'm sure I've seen one like that before..."

"Well Gaul, if it's a monster, it must be a damned cursed one."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm..."

Damian, purplehead, baldy and even Galmund the demon slave works hard in searching for an answer. In the dumb corner is both Liri and me, Liri empty-headed as usual and me not wanting to do the thinking when others can do it for me. I mean, what's a creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the night? What an twisted abomination.

Liri doesn't give up in her question.

"I mean, I've heard— or watched your wonderful stories play out in your blackboard-thingy, and I think you're better than any decorated bard in the capital, and you don't even use words! ...But you never talk about yourself. Hey, what were you doing before you came to this dungeon?"

I tilt my head in confusion.

"I'm bored, okay? Come on, entertain me!"

... This is dangerous. If she decides to investigate my past later on, she'll notice the inconsistencies. I have two options: make a troubled face so it looks like my past is too painful to talk about, or lie through my teeth and make a story too absurd that she won't believe it deep inside.

I know. On the blackboard I draw a big and beautiful castle adorned with many gems, and a little princess trapped within one of its windows. One day, this little princess decided to don her white robe and abandon her perfect castle in a quest to find the legendary "friends" she always read about in her stories. So her grand adventure leads her to many breathtaking sights: waterfalls surrounded with many bright and colorful rainbows, the starry night skies that shined brighter than the gems in her castle, and her favorite, the field of flowers that stretched as far as the eye can see...

But throughout her journey, she found nothing but melancholy. She didn't know why. She was always alone. The big wide world filled with many wonders was choking her within its walls. It came to a point where she couldn't last any longer, and her mind broke. Her smile vanished. She began to drop her care for anything in the whole world. She easily forgot the places she has been and the people she came by. Is the red stain on her robes the blood of that little kid that stood on her way? No idea, she just continued walking without a care. The voices began to torment her, so she would swing her sword to make them stop. But then the silence only brought forth emptiness, so she began to seek the voices. Then would she swing her sword once more. The world forced her to repeat this cruel cycle again and again and again, but she stopped caring about it.

One day, she came across a mirror, and reflected in her hollow eyes was a princess garbed in a beautiful red robe, tired and burdened from her arduous journey. She wanted to rest. So she pointed the blade to herself, and finally filled the hole in her heart.

"OOOOYY!! Isn't this just the story of the Little Princess' Big Adventure?? Yes it is! You're just copying the illustrations, aren't you? That's cheating! And what's with that second half!? The little princess' big adventure was a lovely family-friendly story about a little princess going on adventures and meeting many friends along the way, not how she descended into madness!! How could you do that to a beloved book character! How could you! Hahaha!"

I smile cheekily throughout Liri's complains and playful punches. Actually, I never finished that story so I had to make up stuff along the way, but I could see that she actually enjoyed the dark twist. As expected of a dark elf.

"That was maybe the best story I've heard in my life. But thanks to that, I'm kinda scared of knowing your past now... But! You should totally draw it on paper and give it to me! Okay?"

Liri finally stops bugging me about my past, so I guess my plan worked. She joins the troubled group, still unable to answer the riddle, and surprisingly answers it for them.

"The answer is obviously a person, isn't it?"

The ground shakes, and the heavy stone gate spreads open. But somehow, it makes no one happy. The hell, how was "a person" actually the answer!? People don't do that, do they? Do they? But Liri leaves us all without an explanation, scolding everyone to read more books. We proceed to the next floor disappointed to both her and ourselves.

Before I could descend to the stairs, Liri jumps behind my back and hangs her arms around my neck. She brings her mouth close to my ears, close enough to feel her warm breathing. And her whisper brings me to a jump.

"Just wanted to tell you, you talk in your sleep."

Monster Encyclopedia

No.101

Slime Master Reduxer [Liquid-type Monster]

It's a huge transparent blob of slime that's as big as a house. It can change into any color and shape upon its will, but what more would you like to be than a transparent blob? This monster is not affected by physical attacks, and water damage is greatly reduced. Surprisingly, it's elemental weakness is fire. Thanks to the "Reduxer" ability, it's ability to autoheal is beyond normal. Defeat this monster with one strike!