"Shit." I instantly put my guard up after encountering the red-haired lady.
'Just my luck.' Should I run? My agility went up by a lot today. I should be able to run away. Although it would be a little embarrassing.
"Don't worry. I don't see you as a threat anymore. Someone as weak as you can't do anything to me even if he wanted to. " She shrugged. That somehow bothered me. "Plus it's against my morals to attack kids and the elderly."
"I'm not a kid." I put my arms down. But if push came to shove, my legs were prepared for a dash.
"Who are you kidding, kiddo. I had a good look at your face when you were knocked out." Ugh. Creepy. "You should do something about your facial hair. I almost mistook you for an adult and turned your face inside out yesterday."
"Stop speaking. You talk too much."
"What a biting kid. Anyways, if you don't try something stupid... I don't mind sharing this place with you. It'd be unsafe for a child to stay out this late." She eyed me down again. Creepy. Disgusting. "But first do something about your nudity."
"I can't help it. I have nothing to wear." I wasn't going to cover myself up with leaves. Most of the vegetation was drenched in blood anyway.
"Just use this." The lady dug her hand through her rucksack threw a pair of trousers at me. I caught them and looked at them for a second-
"Wait, aren't these?!" The trousers looked just like the ones in my bag! The ones Mom packed!
"I found these in an abandoned bag somewhere. I was gonna give them to you if you were still in that cave by the evening but you had already left."
"Do you remember the way back? That was my bag. That's where we can get out of this place from! I need to get out of here. Please tell me!" Without wasting a minute, I ran up to her and shook her.
"I mean, I think I remember. But I'm not all that great with directions." She waved.
"WHY?!"
"Stop being so erratic. Why do you think I've been stuck here for a month?" She has been stuck here for a month? "Well, I don't particularly mind this place, but still a month in this rotten land was annoying. Anyways, let's discuss this tomorrow and get some shut-eye today."
She practically quashed all my excitement. But I was at her mercy. She knew about a way to get out of here. That was more than enough progress for now.
"Hnn." I followed her inside the cave.
"Also, put on the trousers."
"Ah, Yes." I shoved my legs through them and they were a little too short.
'Did I grow this much taller in one day?' I was already huge though! I sat down inside the dry cave.
The lady pulled out a bunch of wood from her back and arranged it in a pile. She opened her palm and a ball of fire formed that flew down and ignited the firewood.
'I wonder if I would get her powers if I eat her flesh.'
NO STOP! What was I even thinking about?!
"What's your name, kid?" She stared at my face while roasting a rabbit. I felt bad for the rabbit of this forest. They were easy prey for all.
"Can you not call me kid? I'm 18 and my name is Elyan Reiss."
"Is that so, kid. Elyan."
I just sat there staring at the fire and the other person staring at the fire. She might have been large, but her shoulders were still smaller than mine. In fact, her entire figure was well within my body's holding limits.
She might have been around 180 centimetres but I was over 2 metres. During my last couple of encounters, I started to wonder if she was stronger than that hero fucker or not. She definitely looked stronger than him, and that head bash wasn't a joke either.
Even if it was fake, she was at least seemingly kinder than him.
"Aren't you going to ask me my name?" The red-haired lady asked. Her eyes were turned up to me and her long eyelashes gave off a rather feminine mature appeal. Only accentuated by her thick lips, the only other thing on her body that was as red as her hair and eyes.
"Do I have to? I don't particularly care about your name."
"It's Vivi." She told me nonetheless before picking the rabbit up. This one didn't have spines outside its back. It was just a normal rabbit.
"Just Vivi?"
"Just Vivi."
"How old are you?" I asked to keep the flow of the conversation.
"You shouldn't ask that to a lady." Shouldn't have tried to keep the flow of the conversation.
"I mean I wouldn't ask if you were a fine lady. You look like a monster. Especially after you grew that claw yesterday." I quipped still salty about that unnecessary assault.
"Oh dearie, who put such a filthy mouth on you?"
"Sorry, this is just what I'm like. Deal with it or leave."
"Both of us know who'll be the one to leave if it came down to it." She ripped a huge bite off the rabbit.
I got up. If I had to choose between leaving this place and dealing with her superiority complex, I would rather just leave.
There was no guarantee this woman could lead me to the cliff anyways. So it was better to just leave and take my chances.
Who knows? Maybe getting chased by another moose would land me where I started.
"Sit down, Elyan. It was a miracle that you survived that moose yesterday. Don't try your luck again." My throat got choked by an unknown pressure and my knees fell to the ground.
"I-Intimidation?" I turned to Vivi and her eyes were slits again.
"You got that right. I can tell that something bad must have happened to you for you to end up like this. But just take a step back and remember what your goal is. Take this as advice from a more experienced lady."
The choking feeling disappeared and I laid flat against my back. Just for a moment, I felt safe.
Just for a moment, I fell asleep.
With the early sun out, a firm hand shook me awake.
I rubbed my eyes to a feeling of deja vu from yesterday. The only difference was that Vivi was there.
I got up and scratched my torso. Not having a bath really made my skin itchy. The blood-stained on my body would be a pain to get off.
"Here, have this." She handed me a hard stale piece of bread. Without a second thought, as if my body just accepted to trust her, I took a bite and the slight hunger that my hand felt disappeared.
'Thank god.' I breathed a sigh of relief.
Luckily, considering this observation, my gluttony could be warded off with civilized food. And on that note, I continued to satiate my hunger with that piece of bread. It was probably more hygienic than the monsters.
By the end of our meal, the fire had died out.
"Let's go find that bag."
Then we left out into the forest once again. In hopes of finding our way out.