“Heya boy, whose a good slime? You are! Yes, you are!”

 

I idly chipped the time away as we rode out via cart for the first leg of the trip. Lapsha was chirring as he always did whilst I spoiled the now dog-sized slime. His six tiny yellow eyes moved from direction to direction, pointing to the constant shift in his interest in the things we passed. The odd dear, a shepherd out with his herd, or the occasional megafauna that walked across the plateau.

 

“How ever did you manage to get such a creature to take to you like that?”

 

Avery asked, sitting in the back of the wagon. Her torso poked through the front of a tarp obscuring any recovery gear from view of would-be thieves. Just as well, her hulking body was hidden and provided a surprise for said thieves. That and I doubted her legs would thank her much for walking three days straight. 

 

I moved to reply but stopped myself as a slight flush took me over while recalling the incident.

 

“Ah- well, Vaughn and I found him some time after we first played in the forest.”

 

I looked down to Lapsha, coiled in my lap. I held what must have been his head in my hands for a moment, squeezing his cheeks slightly. 

 

“It was an accident. I busted some door down in the old church and landed on him.”

 

Avery's face seemed to hold a mix of disgust and humor as she listened.

 

“I managed to peel him off, and well, over time he returned and I've been training him ever since. He seems to like me enough.”

 

Lapsha's face managed to squeeze to a degree that I half expected to hear a squeaky noise. Yet, I received nothing except a rather enthusiastic lick to my palms when he was released.

“Kiyomi, slimes are filthy. They're the bottom feeders of nature. Even fungal monsters are above them. They're not known for their intelligence Kiyomi, it just sees you as a food source. It'd be easier for you to just ‘core’ It now rather than grow more attached. ”

 

Avery grimaced, her tanned complexion hiding any paleness that may have overtaken her.

 

“Look at this guy, could I really ‘core’ a slime this cute?”

 

I held him outward towards Avery, her upper body recoiling backward slightly as her front legs lifted her slightly. Lapsha simply charred as he always did, a momentary bird-like squeak escaping his misshapen mouth.

 

“Ugh, cute for a liquid shit, maybe.”

 

Her expression was leaning heavily towards a deep cringe. Rolling my eyes in response, I pulled Lapsha back into my lap. The same red slime looked from Avery, then to me, then back to the woodline as we rode. It was odd, but I almost felt that insult more than Lapsha may have even been able to comprehend sound. I gave the snottiest, most stuck-up response I could manage.

 

“Hmph.”

 

I turned my chin up, feigning some sort of absent sense of nobility in response to Avery's words. I'd looked away so only the gods would have known her actual response, but I couldn't only imagine her shoulders falling as she sighed audibly before changing the subject.

 

“So, on to why you joined us this time.”

 

The cart creaked audibly as Avery shifted her multiple legs around. 

 

“Aye, you've been one to avoid the job so far.”

 

The driver spoke, queuing his thoughts. 

 

“You said something about materials? You'll have to take off early in the morning at our current pace.”

 

Avery leaned forward over the seat between myself and the driver.

 

“You're not poor by any means, why not buy what you need?”

 

She raised a brow inquisitively, her fangs shifting around her cheeks with anticipation. It was odd, but it was one of the few times we'd been this close to each other; her multiple eyes glowing from underneath her bangs.

 

The booby spider always looks different based on lighting, huh?

 

“A gift for Beryl's birthday. The craftsman I spoke to wants nephrite jade, just my weight in it. If I can bring it back by the week's end then he'll take on the project.”

 

I lifted my left arm, unwrapping the large bulge that was contained within. The buckler that I'd bought the day before, its mass of spikes glinting with light as the raw metal surface was exposed. 

 

“Solah’s teeth, now that's a buckler. Is it hollow?”

 

Avery knocked on the buckler on one of its barren points, expecting the dull hollow ‘tink’ of metal-wrapped wood. Her expression took on a hint of surprise when it resounded with nearly no noise as if she knocked on a rock.

 

“Me buying this hunk of scrap was the first half.” 

 

I rotated my arm as if I was warming up my rotator cuff.

 

“It's heavy, but I'm determined to see this thing is used to its worth. May as well, right?”

 

Avery nodded for a moment.

 

“Aye, though I doubt Beryl will be too keen knowing her woman was scammed- oof! Crap! Easy there!”

 

Avery winced, her hands held to her lower abdomen as she recoiled from a withheld ‘nudge’.

 

“Sorry, was on reflex.”

 

I smiled, doing my best to feign innocence at the delinquent spider's antics.

 

“You're in your thirties, Auntie Avery, don't you have something better to do? Like molt? Or learn sewing? You're a giant spider, aren't you?”

 

I asked aloud, though I was greeted soon after by a dejected Avery as she feigned onto the bench's back.

---

Thack-thack-thack

 

The sound of wooden mallets resounded at the camp. With three wagons and three riders per wagon, we found ourselves rallying in a circle for camp. The occasional bleat or mule of wildlife echoed in the distance, broken apart only once every half hour by a wolf or far-off Skulkers bellow. 

 

“I thought I should mention this- unf!”

 

I broke my sentence in two by forcing a metal stake into the ground, anchoring down a tarp that was secured partially by mine and Avery's wagon. 

 

“I thought I should bring this up, any of you hear any insects?”

 

I spoke aloud, directing my question to the entirety of camp. It was the height of the summer season, and all that resounded through the night were larger Fauna. Something uncharacteristic for the woodland in between Brenton and the mountain pass. It wasn't that way as we first set up camp, but within the hour all crickets, cicadas, flies, and ants had virtually vanished in every meaning of their presence. Each of the recovery team members looked at each other with a sense of perplexity. Even Avery and our driver shrugged when looking at each other. 

 

“Odd though it is, it's not like we can turn around now. It's late now, and the horses will need their rest.”

 

Avery yawned, leaning forward with her massive frame as she lowered blankets onto our bed rolls. 

 

“Chirp!”

 

Lapsha's head popped up from the soil between them, his liquid form popping up as if he phased into existence.

 

“Sol's fuckin-”

 

Avery swung her fist in surprise, throwing the blankets down at the same moment.

 

“Kiyomi!”

 

She stood at full height. 

 

“I'm not sleeping with that rolling compost underneath us.”

 

She grumbled, picking up where she left off.

 

“Lapsha-”

 

I made a sharp and concise whistle to call the slime to my side as I continued to help set stakes. 

 

“If you all say so, who's keeping the first watch?” 

 

I asked, looking up momentarily to see that Avery had already settled in. Her legs were folded in a way she could launch herself upward if need be.

 

“I'll take the first watch, then our cart driver. Tomorrow it'll be cart two's responsibility.”

 

She nodded to another portion of the team.

 

“I'd usually make the resident adventurer take watch, but-.” 

 

The Arachne yawned, her pedipalps outstretched ahead of her.

 

“You’re my apprentice, can’t very well ask you to take a job you haven't seen me perform now can I?” 

 

Avery gave a tone of sincerity.

 

“Nephrite jade takes a while to gather, so I'll wake you early at the end of my watch.”

 

Avery nodded to my bedroll. 

 

“While you have to help set up the kill for the haul, I'll turn a blind eye to your absence as long as you stay ahead of things.”

 

Avery pulled out a small leather-bound book.

 

“You're going to be our main workhorse this time around, Kiki. Get your rest.”

 

It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep as I settled in beside the grown woman. Her smile and occasional whispers of numbers and dates were my last memories of consciousness. 

 

“Thanks, Auntie Avery.”

---

“Mn…mnnn-”

 

By the hells’, this kid- Hatsumi wasn't wrong when she said Kiyomi couldn't sleep peacefully.

 

Avery thought to herself, staring down at the sweating demon. She'd often found herself glancing at Kiyomi with a wary feeling about her. The young woman having a tumultuous night's sleep at best. 

 

How can she not tell?

 

Avery looked to Lapsha, the slime sitting opposite of her on Kiyomi's far side. The creature did its best to cushion Kiyomi's random blows to the soil as she rolled in her sleep. Avery stared at the creature, unsure whether she should appreciate the effort it made, or be on guard. The moment all smaller fauna was silenced, was the moment their small caravan had stopped for the night. 

 

Sigh

 

Still-

 

Avery looked back over a small accounting book she laced across her now-posted pedipalps, locked in place as a makeshift desk.

 

If it's the culprit, it's making my job easier. 

 

Looking over the small sets of numbers, raising or lowering with occasional transactions, the most recent showing supply costs for the current venture, Avery worked through her mind the efforts needed for the recovery.

 

Six horses, two per wagon, total us at-

 

Avery penciled in loose math within the accounting book. 

 

We're pulling in six thousand pounds per cart. At the estimated twenty-thousand that this Brontosaurus bull is gonna weigh in at, we're going to work her into the dirt.

 

Avery looked over the sleeping demon beside her. With an audible sigh, she closed her accounting book with a ‘thwump’.

 

Still so much in savings, she can complain all she wants at least. She's going to be pulling one of the carts with the horse team in tow.

---

“Mnnnnn-hah!”

 

My tail stretched out, the morning dew somehow sticking to the fleshy appendage as I whipped it each way in an attempt to dry it while stretching.

 

Gonna have to find a significant enough junk if I can.

 

I checked the rope looped around my hip and chest. The plan was simple; find a nephrite boulder, and break off one large piece to avoid any unwieldy haul. How sure I was that I'd find the ore was beyond me though. I'd have to break apart any random boulder that looks roughly green in hue. I could only hope I didn't grab some random other rock type just similar enough to dupe me in my search.

 

For Beryl… oh gods, if I do finish this up, the effort I'm gonna have to put in for Vaughn…

 

I thought over my initial reasoning for spelunking back out to this particular section of wilderness. Strolling along, I knew the safety of my sword, overwhelming strength, and a rather energetic red slime that ran- or more accurately, ‘flowed’ alongside me. 

They're still gone.

 

I expected a mosquito at the least, but with Lapsha present there hasn't been so much as a fly.

 

This is a bad time for something weird to go down.

 

I continued looking about, stretching my senses thin as I listened for the barest of noise. Over my own pulse, it was a struggle to sense anything else by the trees around us.

 

“Stick close boy.”

 

I said impulsively. We'd left just as the sun began weakly emitting its light over the mountains. At that point, it should have been odd, but we were well on into the afternoon and we'd even passed the supposed quarry we were sent to collect. A Brontosaurus, a bull that couldn't hold back its aggression from younger males in the area and had even taken to stomping out any poor traveler and their horse that it'd come across. 

 

We were near the mountains, and still, not a single noise from anything save a random bird.

---

Hmmm, here?

 

I slowly heaved a stray boulder to its side. I was halfway to the point where I'd first stumbled across the pack of wolverines, beginning my search from where we'd virtually obliterated the pack remnants at the pass's mouth. 

 

“Tch.”

 

I clicked my tongue, dropping the boulder back on its side as I inspected for any signs of discoloration. 

 

I'm gonna be here for hours at this rate.

 

My shoulders slumped as I took a moment to breathe. 

 

“How long do I have left?”

 

I looked to the horizon, the sun now setting far on Brenton's opposite side. I used my fingers to check the sun's progress.

 

“Awe shit!”

 

Three hours, three hours was all I had left and I'd have to hoof it back to the Brontosaurus's carcass as fast as I could. I looked around for Lapsha, the red, dog-sized slime perched upon a boulder as if to lord over all below him.

 

What's got you so observant?

 

I asked myself, only just now realizing that his yellow eyes were locked onto the same group of rocks further down the hill of us. He'd been staring at them for over an hour now, and my curiosity was taking over at this point.

 

If I'm going to fail… the least I can do is explore options.

 

I sighed, adjusting Wyrms-tooth from my hip to my back. Rocks tumbled and clattered against each other as I made to slowly descend the mountain face. 

 

I wonder, why does this have your attention so much?

 

 It was hard to pin down, but an odd feeling of uneasiness was taking hold. Though it was likely just the fault of my fear of failure. I wanted to provide Beryl with something she’d like, not simply something I could just buy off of a counter.

 

“Lapsha!”

 

I yelled out, breaking the slime from his trance. Hearing my voice, his head shook and he chirred intermittently as he jumped from rock to rock. He maintained focus upon catching up though, his eyes locked on the particular formation.

 

Wha-

 

I looked to the formation, then to Lapsha, then back to the formation.

 

No, bullshit. You aren't some pointer and that fuckin rock isn't a pheasant.

 

I shook my head, dismissing the notion as I walked forward. However, my initial assumption was a bit greater than the reality of the situation. Reality was give and take in that matter. A vibrant and partially transparent slab of green presented itself. Though, it was only after the sudden toppling of rubble. A toppling of rubble revealed an almost imperceptibly slow and methodical movement.

 

Wait- fuck.

 

I halted where I stood, a shock of fear jolting through my body forcing me to lock up as I locked eyes with the one thing I openly feared in the wilds. 

 

Why here?!

 

My movement was slow as I stared at the partially exposed creature, its black, dinner plate-sized eyes absorbing all light that hit the monster's exoskeleton. My body instinctively moved to a defensive stance, my buckler making for an odd hindrance to my typical sword stance. 

 

“Spider-tortoise.”

 

I whispered to myself, ‘Predatory instinct’ and ‘Rush of the hunt’ both activating simultaneously only to douse my fear entirely.

 

“But- how-”

 

I stood at full height, shaking my hands momentarily as I attempted to relax and stop the adrenaline high in its tracks.

 

“Lapsha?”

 

I looked at the slime by my side, still pointing at the Spider tortoise.

 

“Eh?”

 

I looked back to the loose formation of rocks, the giant arachnid nestled into the cluster. I looked back to Lapsha with what must have been an extremely hesitant cringe. The Spider-tortoise for all intents and purposes, should be dead. The lingering sense of dread that they usually presented was absent, and I could not feel the pulse nor the rush of blood through the ground or air. All signs of life were absent, meaning that the massive beast was either a shed exoskeleton or a whole carcass. However, none of these things made me that much more pleased to get within arm's length. It was Ironic given Avery, an Arachne, was one of my mentors. 

 

“Fuck it.”

I shook my head, breathing in a controlled manner. 

 

“Let's investigate.”