The sound of birds and the rustling leaves.
Morning.
I woke up to a woman I had never met before. Lying on top of me. Peach skin, peach hair, and closed eyes. There were light yellow celestial marks under her eyes. Her body fit right from my chin to my shin. The woman's bosom was spilling over my chest. It should've felt warm, I should've felt touch but I couldn't.
'What the hell was going on?' I would have taken a second to address the situation but my body reacted on its own.
My hand directly reached out to push her off but my arms passed right through her leaving a trail of purple mist. So I got more aggressive while continuing to be short of breath. But it wasn't working. I broke off the skeleton holding me to the tree in panic and struggle.
Ignoring where I was caught up in my own struggle, I tumbled off the tree and landed on my knee while the woman was still up there.
I got up and immediately dusted myself off hoping no one saw that. It would've obviously been embarrassing. Or rather, on another thought, I couldn't feel my ears burn as I would usually feel when embarrassed.
I felt nothing. Eh? But I did initially feel it. Maybe I've not gone numb to emotions but they just phase out quicker. I sighed.
The fact that I got so flustered-
"Guess I still haven't gotten over it." I sighed.
The early morning sun was casting a misty light throughout the forest. It was calm, not clustered, and serene. Nothing like that hell hole I was stuck in, in Rottheim.
"What was all the fuss about?" Liu started walking down the tree as if she was walking downstairs. Her dress was dishevelled.
"You were bigger than before so it freaked me out."
"Ah, I see... That form takes a lot of concentration to maintain but requires less physical energy." I guess physical means different things to a God and a human. Cuz I could clearly not touch her a second ago.
While descending, she gradually shrank down and landed on my shoulder.
"I don't want to waste my time looking after you so let's just get right to it. I've been observing your diet lately, and you've been skipping out on essential meals. First of all, fix that. Have breakfast and freshen yourself up. Also, take a bath, you reek of blood after yesterday's fall." She nagged while yawning.
Maybe her stern attitude wasn't feasible this early in the morning.
Well, I got to it. I stood under a small waterfall and had a shower, drank some water as it fell on me, and as women call it, picked some flowers. But I was basically ready for the day.
After everything was done I sat down and opened my bag, while Liu leaned over my shoulder in her small, fairy-like form.
"Do you want to eat some?" I asked out of obligation.
"I can't. Not in this form."
"I see, then you can just watch me eat or something."
I kicked back and chewed on some jerky for a while. And with that breakfast was over.
###
"With your breakfast done, it's time to catch yourself some lunch." Liu floated in front of me while grabbing the chain of the grimoire. The pages flipped to reveal a map of this place. With the title {Schwarzwald} etched up top.
Her small finger landed on a spot next to one of the hills.
"This place is known to have some wolves. I believe at your level you should be able to take on at least three at a time." She said nonchalantly, even though she knew my battle history.
Got destroyed by the hero.
Beat the moose with luck.
Got knocked out by Vivi.
Caught some bunnies.
Escaped town barely.
Got impaled by Rumie.
And beat Rumie using a power I had no control over.
My track record was as bad as they came.
I was seriously underestimating my strength at this point. Even beating 3 wolves felt like it was way out of my league. But I steeled myself and silently moved forward in that direction.
With my (Natural Predator) on at all times, I avoided anything that I found remotely dangerous in my vicinity. For such a pretty forest, this place sure housed some gnarly animals.
"Say, Liu."
"Yes?"
"What do you think sets a beast apart from an animal?" I mean, the answer I got back home was that beasts ate humans, animals did not. But the more I read into it the less it made sense. So I wanted to know a little more.
"Beasts is not the right way to refer to them. They are the same as every other animal, is the morality we, good Gods have decided to take. Beasts were originally a mistake. When we rest- When we created the world, we had mana littered around the air for everyone to use. But then we accidentally created beings who had mana embedded in them almost as if they were poisoned by them. They became the ancestors of 'beasts'.
They evolved over generations and millennia to become a small portion of animals, and some even evolved into humans, or well, what you refer to as demons. They aren't perfect, yet. The existence of mana in their body causes them to be irritable and aggressive. But to us, they are both the same, and deserve equal love."
"Uhh huh, that makes sense with your Crusade against the darkness."
"That was why I clarified that we were the good Gods. Hup, prepare yourself for battle, we're here."
I pulled a machete that I picked up from the adventurers out of my bag and threw the bag aside.
"Mark the bag's location."
"Alright."
I snuck around a tree and peeked over the edge. There was a small pond filled with pure water. Not a speck of mud. There were silver furred wolves with dark grey highlights drinking from it. It made sense since this place was supposedly under snow most of the year.
The wolves looked so majestic it felt like a shame to kill them.
I didn't want to sully this place.
"Don't bother. The second you go out there, they'll kill you in cold blood. You aren't strong enough to take pity."
"Weren't you a good god?"
"You're my subject too. Anyways, they caught your scent now."
I peeked around the corner again and all of their heterochromatic eyes were staring at me. I sighed.
"Hardening."