[Overall rating: 27RP]

[Current balance: 343RP]

My frame dropped to the ground. I immediately felt the moist and grainy soil hit my bottom, causing a jolt of pain to spread through me. My lens was unharmed but the way I fell made them get locked onto the sight of several blade-like grasses slowly reaching and stabbing into a pair of harpies.

I watched as they struggled to escape the plants, though that soon became unnecessary when their movements slowly came to a halt and they returned to being common grass, albeit still over stretched.

I hope they don’t find me. I held some bad thoughts in the back of my mind as I saw the two flap their wings away from the area they were attacked at, with several stalks still hanging onto their bird feet.

This is both ugly and funny to look at. Seeing as they all seemed angry, maybe scared, and visibly lost, I assumed that I wasn’t gonna be caught by some claw and then brought to a nest, at the very least.

Are they looking for the girls?

Wait, they are leaving my sight. I couldn’t keep up with the trio of harpies, as they flew towards my back, my blind spot by definition. I really need to up the view range, six meters isn’t enough.

The cost, though… If it wasn’t for that issue I’d have spent my points already.

Before I could bring up the points store for a second check-up, a group of lights began approaching from the bottom of my view. And soon after the ground trembled with the steps of several people.

That was an exaggeration, however, as only four people entered my view, all men and none above three meters tall. Which means I could see their entire bodies once they entered my six meter radius.

I take back what I said about the range, not completely, but it is useful.

Let’s see, they seem to be wearing what I’d expect from a mix of backstreet clothing with farmer garments. I took notice of their hairy faces and protruding chins, then the dirty boots and shirts strapped under leather belts or vests. And also that two of them were holding lanterns, the old oil-based kind.

Oh no, I think they noticed me. My lens, once again, reflected the light of their lamps and caught their attention. Which caused me to go through another feeling of disgust as a dirty and rough pair of hands held me high.

Do people here never wash their hands?

The man who picked me up looked right into my lens with his sullen face, like a famished dog, and breathed out in front of it, covering my lens in a fog.

It can’t be your first time seeing glass, right? Everyone else seemed to know what I was right away.

He proceeded to show me to his colleagues, and I believe I saw the other lamp holder pick up one of my photos as I was taken away by the people the girls were running from.

The man leading the group had long hair flowing down his neck, it was disheveled but that added a touch of ‘wildness’ to his style. I only paid attention to those traits because he was one of the people that I had taken a picture of earlier.

There wasn’t anything unique about the other two, except for the fact that they didn’t have any leather vests or protections. Maybe it’s a kind of role thing?

They started climbing up the slope, seeming to follow the traces of slime left by the girl, and without breaking a single drop of sweat, after several minutes, they reached the top.

Their tireless march made me recall how amazed I was by the courage of the ginger girl when she slid down the slope. Honestly, I’m curious about how all these people are so athletic.

It didn’t take much longer to arrive at their camp, or maybe it just felt much faster when they carried me. I did get a little distracted with the surroundings as well.

And the first thing they did? Obviously to hand me over to a good looking man, with depth in his eyes, not like the usual, an actual profoundness that would’ve probably entranced me if I wasn’t a camera. Looking at it through my lens didn’t seem to reproduce said feeling, so I presume that it’s something related to magic as well.

This guy can’t be bad. From the feeling of his hands to the well-cared appearance, followed by the state of his clothes, I just couldn’t find anything that would warrant a pair of girls spying on his affairs.

For all I know, this could be a circus trope resting on the mountains. I held onto that thought even as I saw the trio of harpies landing nearby, and getting treated by the other members of the group. They don’t even mistreat those… things? I don’t know how to refer to them.

And after going through the usual close-up, then moving around that everyone does when they first hold me, he sat down on the inside of a carriage, without even putting me to sleep. Should I trust them?

I don’t mean trust as in, believe in them to become friends, I’ve come to believe that being a relic must give me some luck in that regard as no one treated me carelessly until now. Though that’s just my experience with three people, so I can still be proven wrong.

I actually meant that in the sense of making sure they don’t let a rock smash me, or a person sit on me accidentally. Because I require time, time that I cannot ask since I’m a camera.

Let me check it again. I’d like to upgrade the camera model.

[The foundational Model Upgrade will cost 200RP, and will require the user to go through a downtime of eighteen hours in local time, during which all operations will cease and consciousness will be unavailable. Warning: Any damage caused during the process will cause it to be stopped and reverted, the points spent in such occurrence will not be refunded.]

[Are you sure?]

In short, it’s a scam.

A necessary scam without much options other than waiting for a time when I’m a hundred percent safe. This was also my thought when I first reached a safe amount of points and tried to do the upgrade.

But I couldn’t find a good time to do it with the girls as they kept me asleep all the time that they weren’t taking pictures, and I just had the feeling that if I stopped working at those times, they’d probably trash me.

Anyways, now is the time. I believe in you, good-looking guy. He wasn’t even nearby anymore, and I still went ahead with putting my faith into that stranger.

Yes, start the upgra—

[Starting the process of restructuring the model…]

[Current balance: 143RP]

—Wow, the first thing I see is that I’m poor again.

That would’ve been way better as a first thought, though in reality what I really saw was flames.

The fierce flames of trees burning and the surroundings being devoured by fire, like a living creature that approaches very slowly and fearlessly stomps everything in its way.

It felt like I was watching a movie through my lens, which seemed to have gotten bigger, at least in range, though the people weren’t running around like headless chickens, nor scavenging for whatever they could, they were fighting against actually armed people.

I saw maces, curved long blades, and knives being used all over the place. It was unrealistic to say the least, and fantastical at best.

The haggard members were fighting defensively with their blades, which I couldn't even consider as swords from how chipped they looked, and parrying most attacks with good footwork over the uneven ground.

While their enemies, the properly armed and probably trained personnel, were taking advantage of their numbers and switching their front lines with their second lines, with a rearguard to protect any blind spots.

I feel lucky that my upgrade was done just in time.

As I began to ponder what I should do, despite knowing that my choices are extremely limited, someone came to pick me up.

Oh, good guy, you kept me safe! I mentally praised the man, although my location was now a pile of trash instead of a carriage, he seemed to have remembered me.

Wait, why? He didn’t take a picture with me, and— forget it, he just did.

The picture taken depicted the whole appearance of the unique harpy as it looked directly at my lens, with a sparkle in its eyes. There was a smile, although its beak couldn’t possibly curve for that, I could see that it was smiling in that picture, and I think the man, too, noticed it.

He kneeled in front of its bird legs and tied a rope to it. I only saw the other end of the rope when it was already flapping its wings to take flight. Taking me higher and higher, until that part of the forest became a small smudge of red in a green and gray painting.

Why did he send me off on a VIP flight?

I couldn’t comprehend what had occurred on this night, but it did start something. And, as I tried to check my profile screen, I began to feel that it wouldn’t be something good for me.