Slime Girl

- Shari -

Okay.

No reason to panic.

Smoke isn't all that strange to be produced in a village.

People need to heat their houses.

Or they might simply have thrown a festival, and that's just the remains of the barbecue, or a bonfire.

Such things are normal.

Yep, yep, that must be it.

"Ehm, Shari, you kinda increased your pace, by a lot." (Vela)

Oh, did I?

Well, confirmation can't harm, can it?

"There's something I have to check out. Quickly." (Shari)

I can't even be bothered with good reasoning.

I just have to know.

It's definitely normal that the amount of ash in the air increases as I draw closer, isn't it?

But so much?

"Shari?" (Liqu)

"Liqu, I can't. Please, let's hurry." (Shari)

My concern grows with each step, each particle of ash I receive.

It affects me so much that I barely recognize the sense of nostalgia I get while passing the path to my village that I should know so well.

Just let it be fine.

Please, let it be fine.

I take the last meters to my village in a rush.

Running at the top of my speed, as my body allows me to, I take the last bend.

...

Shit.

SHIT!!!

The buildings are burned.

Only ashes at this point.

Not all of them, but the majority.

From the state of things, it must've happened some time ago.

"Something burned down this village?" (Balion)

"Why would a remote village like this be targeted?" (Vela)

"I don't know, but look at this degree of destruction." (Balion)

"Yes, it's so vast one could almost believe a dragon did this." (Zeon)

"Dragon!?!" (Liqu)

Could it have been a dragon?

That sounds so ludicrous.

I mean, a legendary monster, only known in ancient stories, came here and had nothing else to do but to destroy my home village?

But as I know the world, that could maybe be it.

It would pull something like it, wouldn't it?

"Shari?" (Liqu)

I can't see any bodies on the ground, so this might mean they're alive?

Or were they just completely turned into ash, without even their shapes remaining?

"Shari?" (Liqu)

Damn!

What to do now?

Do I check the buildings first, or do I run over to my parents' home?

"Shari!" (Liqu)

I, I need to do something.

Which path should I take?

Does it even matter if this happened a while ago?

• "Shari! Waahh!" (Liqu)

Meanwhile, Liqu gets the same shock that makes her slime rush quicker away from me than the rest of her body can follow, leading to a complete disruption of her form.

"Liqu!?" (Shari)

It also helped me to get out of my high-speed processing, which in some way turned out awfully pointless, as moments of nothingness just stretched with no end in sight.

"I-I'm sorry. I, I didn't know what you're experiencing. I think you should go to your home first." (Liqu)

Well, if the slime recommends me to do so.

"Okay, I'm off." (Shari)

As I'm about to sprint to my home, I hear Vela behind me.

"Alright, everyone, listen up! Balion, Zeon, form troops and scour this place! Take up every single trace of even mild interest! Get going!" (Vela)

Good that this is taken care of.

Vela seems fairly competent, and every bit of information our troop finds can only help to uncover what happened here.

With the absolute top speed I can muster, I rush towards my home.

The path is covered by more marks of destruction, which I ignore and quickly leave behind me.

My only goal is the small house at the edge of the forest.

Oh, god's mercy, it still stands!

I almost feel relieved that whatever seems to have destroyed the village avoided this place, but when I go closer, I see the front door has been smashed in.

I guess there goes the dragon story.

Dragons don't just smash the doors to get in, but eradicate the whole damn building.

Without wasting a single second, I barge in.

"Mum! Dad!" (Shari)

No answer!

Why did I expect anything?

Of course they aren't here!

When would things ever go my way?!

No, the world decided long ago that something like this isn't for dear Shari!

Suddenly, I perceive movement behind me.

Well, actually, I see clear as day that Vela is approaching, with the back of my head uncovered.

"What are you doing here?" (Shari)

"I assumed you might need a tracker. You actually do remember that this was my former position in the team?" (Vela)

Now that she's mentioning it...

"So, what are you here for?" (Vela)

Should I tell her?

Does it matter?

My parents are gone.

"This, this is my family home. My parents' place! They should be here!" (Shari)

"Whoah. Okay, okay. Alright, I got the gist of it. I can check this place for you. Maybe I can pick up on traces you don’t know to look for." (Vela)

"Okay, check the house... But be careful." (Shari)

Vela only nods and gets to work.

While she's at it, she mumbles some things.

"A lot got destroyed, valuables taken. Yet the majority of the common stuff wasn't touched." (Vela)

Okay, this makes it seem like a common bandit raid.

However, bandits usually kill.

Either to break the defenders as they are about to take their stuff, or to get rid of witnesses.

How does this come together with the lack of bodies?

It seems unlikely that raiders would bury their victims.

"No blood. Just like in the village. Strange." (Vela)

She's right on this.

At least there's not a lot.

Believe me, I've got a sense for that.

"Any conclusions?" (Shari)

"There are signs of fighting in the village. However, almost no blood was spilled. Not here in the house, and barely any in the village." (Vela)

Does this mean they could all have escaped?

But this doesn't seem like the kind of luck I'm used to.

On the other side, there are no signs of death.

In particular, the lack of spilled blood makes it pretty unlikely that someone died here.

Getting rid of corpses is one thing, but wiping up the blood is an entirely different task.

But how exactly is this going to help me find my parents?

"Got something." (Vela)

• Slime dash!

"Whoah, don't startle me." (Vela)

"What did you get?" (Shari)

She holds out some kind of amulet.

It has a bridge and coins on it.

"This certainly belonged to one of the attackers." (Vela)

"Okay, and what does it tell us?" (Shari)

"I've got an idea, but let us first join up with the others. We're only losing time if I have to discuss everything twice." (Vela)

I want to argue back, but decide that this will only throw me further off track.

If time is of the essence, then I can't afford to waste it.

Fine.

A lead is all I need.

Right now, we've made progress.

We walk next to each other back to the village, where our troops seem to already have mostly been assembled.

It concerns me that I cannot see Liqu, but for now, I may check on what the others got.

I'm right now not all that much into talking, so I'm grateful that Vela takes this duty from me.

"So, Balion, Zeon, what do we have?" (Vela)

"Went around the place. A lot of footprints. There appeared to be quite a contingent of heavy ones marching from the way we came, and also back again. To be honest, I'd say they walked in formation and were armored. Or all particularly big and randomly walking next to each other, yet this seems unlikely." (Balion)

Not in the mood for jokes, Balion!

Now it's Zeon's turn.

"We found evidence for a lot of mayhem in the village center. The ground is pretty riled up there, and quite a lot of stuff was strewn around. Seems like the people assembled, but from there, we found most of the traces to be leading to the different edges of the village and into the forest. Interestingly, barely any evidence for bloodshed. No corpses, almost no blood. It's somewhat obscure." (Zeon)

Okay, so people in armor came, they made the villagers assemble in the village square, then things became violent, and ultimately the people fled.

Was it like that?

Apparently, they didn't kill them.

But just because there are traces leading away, doesn’t mean any escaped.

And is a lack of blood truly a sign that nobody was killed?

What does that mean for my parents?

Could they have escaped?

There must be something we overlooked!

Something that tells me where they are.

If I'd just have more!

But where?

"Shaaariii! I fouuuund soomethiiing!" (Liqu)

Suddenly, I see Liqu running in our direction, while waving excitedly.

Uh, and when I look closer at her, I find her holding a boy, a teenager, partially sunken inside her body.

Wait, I know that boy!