Chapter 319:
A Dump in the Forest
I LOOKED AT SOL in the palm of my hand. This was the eighth day since we’d left Hatata Village. Sol had shrunk to half its size, so I asked Ciel to look for an illegal dump in the forest. Would it be able to find one?
“Do you have any energy?”
“Pefu!”
Just like its size, its voice was also at half strength. It bounced a little in my hand, probably to show that it still had energy, but that didn’t make me feel much better.
“Sol says it’s doing okay…” I said.
“But from the look of it, Sol doesn’t seem okay.”
“I know.”
Sol glared at us. I don’t think it appreciated our conversation. But its eyes were so small that it looked nothing but cute to me.
“Oh, look! Ciel’s back,” Druid said.
I looked toward the trees to see Ciel running through them. I hope it found us a dump.
“Thanks, Ciel. Did you find a dump?”
Mrrrow.
I sighed in relief. Oh, good, Ciel found one. Truth be told, though, an illegal dump really wasn’t anything we should celebrate.
“Thanks for doing that, Ciel.”
Mrrrow.
“Is it close by?”
Mrrrow.
With Ciel leading the way, we headed for the dump it had discovered.
“Hey, Sol, good news! We found you some lunch.”
“Pefu! Pefu!” Sol, who had moved onto my shoulder, looked very happy. It must have been famished. We were saved this time, but we definitely needed to do something to solve this problem later.
“There’s the dump! Wow, it’s huge.”
We were startled by the sight of it. It was big, far too big to be an illegal dump. And most of the items in it were full of magic energy, too.
“Mr. Druid…isn’t this kinda dangerous?”
“Yeah.”
In the past, monsters had gone berserk and mutated from the magic energy left at dumps. And since we were in the middle of the forest, there were a lot of monsters around. Moreover, there was a towering pile of trash, filled with magic energy. I had a really bad feeling about it.
“Ivy, stay alert. You, too, Ciel.”
“Got it.”
Mrrrow.
“There are a lot of different monsters in this area. Some of them might be magic-eaters.”
I searched for auras but didn’t sense any monsters nearby.
“Well?”
“No monster auras.”
“Okay. Then I guess we’re safe?” Druid glanced around. We should probably still stay on guard.
“All right, Sol. You can eat now.”
I took the slime from my shoulder and placed it onto the pile of trash. Sora and Flame jumped straight in there, too.
“Now that we know it’s safe, we might as well look for potions for Sora and Flame while we’re here,” Druid said.
“Sure.”
Rustle, rustle! Rustle, rustle!
I suddenly heard a sound, like something stomping through the grass. I took a quick look around, scanning for auras, but couldn’t find any monsters.
“Huh?”
I sensed no auras, but I did realize that something was amiss. There was something out there. Something different from an aura…
Hissss!
Ciel, who was standing on guard next to me, hissed into the forest, its hair raised. Druid unsheathed his sword. I still didn’t sense any auras, but it felt like something was approaching us.
“Mr. Druid, there’s somebody near us!” I looked around intently, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Ivy! Above you! Watch out!”
The moment I heard Druid’s voice, Ciel bit my clothes and yanked me away.
“Agh!” Ciel was so aggressive that I lost my footing.
Shoop! Bop!
Agh!
WHACK! SMACK!
AGH!
When I heard the ominous sounds behind me, I jumped to my feet to have a look. And before my eyes, engulfed in flames, was a monster. By the root of a tree nearby, two other ones lay limply. Both were already dead.
KA-CHING! SHOOP!
I looked toward the sounds to see Druid fighting a monster. He had just blocked its bite-attack with his sword. Then the blade lit on fire as Druid struck back.
“Wow, this sword is great!” Druid cheered, slashing away at the burning monster.
Grah! Grah! The burning monster screeched, flailing around…but its movements got more and more listless until it died.
“What a relief. Where did Ciel go? And where are the slimes?”
We looked over at the dump to see the slimes huddling behind some trash. It was comforting to see they were all okay. I looked around for Ciel…and I heard fighting noises, though I didn’t know where they were coming from. It was probably Ciel, though. Sounds were echoing through the trees, so I couldn’t tell where the battle was happening. I scanned for auras and finally found Ciel’s, but I couldn’t sense the aura of the monster I knew it was fighting.
“Are we safe?”
“Yeah. Ciel led the others away from us.”
“I freaked out when I saw a monster suddenly appear over your head, Ivy. I’m so glad you’re safe.”
This is so strange. I was being hyper-vigilant and scanning for auras. Even now, the only aura I can sense out there is Ciel’s.
“Mr. Druid, these monsters… I can’t sense their auras.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Even now, I know Ciel is fighting at least one of them, but I can’t pick up on its aura at all.”
Druid frowned soberly. “They’re probably monsters that mutated.”
Mutated monsters…
“Ivy, they’re coming! Hide in the trash!”
The words were barely out of Druid’s mouth when two monsters came flying at us. I scampered into the trash to get out of the way. I happened to find a shield, so I hid myself behind it. I was worried about Druid, battling them with only one arm, but I didn’t know how to fight.
“I wish there were something I could do…”
Garrr.
“Huh?!”
I whirled around at the sound of the voice behind me. It was a monster with bright-red eyes and a wide-open mouth. I had to run, but I couldn’t move…I couldn’t speak… All I could do was stare at the creature as it lunged in for the attack.
Chomp.
“Huh?!”
My brain couldn’t follow what was unfolding before me.
Umm, let’s see, a monster suddenly appeared behind me, then it attacked me. Yes, it attacked me, and then…then I heard a “chomp” sound, and something covered the monster, and… The thing covering the monster was black and transparent…probably a slime. I lifted my gaze slightly upward…and met with a pair of eyes.
“Sol?”
Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.
“Are you healing it? Or…eating it?”
I looked at the monster inside of Sol. It was struggling to get out, but it gradually melted and… Yeah, I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see that.
“Thanks, Sol. You saved my life.”
I stared hard into Sol’s eyes, trying my hardest not to look down by accident. Just then, I noticed that the fighting noises in the forest had stopped. Was Ciel okay?
“Ivy…that can’t possibly be…Sol?”
I looked toward the voice to see Druid. His jaw dropped as he gawked at Sol.
“Yeah…I think it’s having lunch,” I pointed, trying not to look at its belly. Druid looked where I was gesturing and gasped in shock.
“Oh, wow…so it eats monsters now.”
“Are monster-eating slimes rare?”
“No, slimes are omnivorous, so they do eat monsters. But they usually only go after the weak or tiny ones, since slimes themselves are very weak…”
Only weak and tiny monsters? But it’s chowing down on the big, strong one that just attacked me.
“Okay…now this solves the problem of Sol’s meals a little…” Druid’s voice got softer and softer. I gave him a curious look. “Up until now, Sol acted normal around monsters, right?”
“Yeah. It didn’t even flinch.”
He had a point. We’d been around lots of monsters on our way here, yet Sol hadn’t tried to eat any of them.
“So, in what situations does Sol eat monsters?”
Mrrrow?
I looked in the direction of Ciel’s voice…to see that it was frozen like a statue at the sight of Sol eating.
“That’s Sol,” I told it.
Mrrrow.
“Oh, wait! Where are Sora and Flame?”
I forgot all about them. Are they okay? I looked for the two slimes that were hiding in the trash…and saw that both of them were eating.
“They look just fine to me,” Druid said.
I smiled awkwardly. “Yeah. Those two are extraordinary in more ways than one.”
They had nerves of steel, that was for sure. They could get right back to lunch on the heels of a brutal attack.
“Ciel, have all the monsters in this area retreated?”
Mrrrow.
Okay, so they’ve retreated. That must be why Ciel’s tail is wagging so happily. As I looked at Ciel, its spirits soaring thanks to the brutal brawl it had just fought, the word battlemania popped into my mind.
“Thanks for saving us, Ciel. And thank you, too, Druid. Good job with that sword.”
“I’m just glad everyone’s okay.”
Mrrrow.
Welp, we’ve averted the monster crisis for now. But we still have lots of other problems to deal with, I thought as I looked at Sol.
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