Finally, with the last of the slime in the air clearing, a unanimous sigh of relief echoed through the group.
Once he too had calmed down, the leader appeared furious as he looked at the red glowing rune on the wall. "This!" He seethed with anger. "Is what it looks like when someone tampers with the street side ward over the drain. And this." He said, pointing at the dead convict's body, which had been the latest victim of the slime. "Is what can happen because of such tampering."
Looking down morosely at his hands, he added on. "This was a completely unnecessary death, that could have been avoided." He then looked towards me and spoke. "Go, if you want to take the chance at harvesting an advanced slime core, now is the time." Gazing out at the rest of the group he continued. "No one here is willing to take the chance that more might be hiding beneath those bodies, but this is the time to take advantage of your immortality, if such is to be exploited. No one will contest you for your prize."
Looking down and feeling a bit dubious of the 'Opportunity' I finally decided that yes, the leader was right. I might as well take a chance and aim big or die trying. Jumping down into the groove where the two bodies still lay, I grasped the core from the first advanced slime that was dispatched. It had a minor crack on its surface, but didn't leak any fluid. As for the other, I thankfully found it about a meter away front the dead body of the convict. I was grateful that I wouldn't have to shift his body around to get to the core. The frozen expression of horror and pain on his face was more than enough to dissuade me from that would-be method of procurement if the core had lain beneath him.
After carefully placing those two cores in my bag, I began grabbing large armfuls of the regular slime nuclei and filled the bag to near overflowing. I even had to remove several regular cores, in order to pull the drawstring to close the bag.
By this point, seeing me remain unharmed, a few of the convicts hovered around the outer edges of the center point and picked up a fair number of cores.
It wasn't long after that, that we were then called back from harvesting by the leader who then led us back to the closest exit point.
Climbing up the vertical ladder in the wall made of what looked like metal rebar, we finally exited to bright sunlight and gawking onlookers.
Looking around, I was quite surprised. The exit point opened up to the area between the red district and the wealthy houses that appeared just before it.
Nearby, a steady stream of movers appeared to be carrying pieces of heavy furniture and other smaller knickknacks out of one of the wealthy houses, to places unknown among the poorer district.
As the last to exit from the sewers, the leader took a moment to observe the goings on around him. Counting the survivors, minus the single convict, he let loose a resigned sigh. Then pulling out what I had since learned to be a communication device, he made a call to his superior, to report what just happened.
He is informed to end the cleansing operation, which he already did, and to return to base for debrief. Hailing a passing carriage, the leader, a recently revived Tillamook, and myself took it back to the marketplace. I didn't see any other carriage arrive in the time that the convicts and soldiers disappeared from view, however, they were already trudging their way back in the same direction as the carriage took us.
We remained in silence much of the ride back as each of us stewed in our own thoughts. I wouldn't be able to guess at which of the other two were thinking. However, I was desperately yearning for a nice hot and looong shower after this.
Separating at the Travelers Stone, I contemplated touching it to wipe away my exhaustion, but decided otherwise. I didn't want to become dependent upon such when I wasn't even physically injured. Physically worn out, yes, but not injured.
As I reached the Victoria's shop, somehow, she already knew to expect my arrival, as I wasn't even allowed in the shop in my current attire. Reaching up my hand it came in contact with my mask. Oh! And I still had the gloves on too! Removing the mask, I was assaulted by a terrible stench!
Maybe that was why the carriage driver appeared very relieved to have finally gotten rid of us.
"Come! Follow me!" My teacher's tone brooked no argument and so I followed her while scrambling to get the mask back on my face. The odor was atrocious!
I was led around the exterior wall of the building to an unassuming section which Victoria touched a certain stone of. A small hand sized magic circle appeared from that stone, which she then placed her hand against.
An over-sized door section of the wall shimmered for a moment, revealing a gate which she promptly led me through. As we passed, I could see the shimmering happen again which made both sides of the wall look like normal stone wall, as it had before.
"There is an outside shower and scrub solution that you will use liberally to cleanse yourself. You are not to leave that shower, until I have deemed you clean enough to enter into my home. Is that understood?" She asked in a strict tone.
"Yes master!" I completely agreed with her. I certainly had no desire to track this odor into her house and my bedroom. I hadn't realized just how bad it was till I removed my mask.
Motioning with her hand, she pointed at a corner. "Go ahead and place your bag of nuclei and soiled clothing over there. I will get another pair for you from your room."
Embarrassment filled me at that moment as I imagined her going through my under-clothes. But I brushed it off quickly in order to focus on getting clean now.
The place she had brought me to, was kind of like an enclosed outdoor shower that one might find at a beach.
Along the way, I had caught a glimpse of the breathtaking beauty of her backyard. From what little I could see; it was a veritable paradise. In response to the sight, my amulet which had not given much reaction for a long while, now gave out a fairly strong pulse echoing with my own tendrils of energy deep within me. I gentle tingling of chills and warmth cascaded over me, like a thin trickle pouring over my shoulders. Feeling a shiver before I had even stepped beneath the water of the shower, I longed to see more.
Spending a long time beneath the now hot water of the shower, I lathered up multiple times and scrubbed myself raw with the help of a rough brush I found along with the cleansing solution.
I even grabbed my clothes and doused them in the same solution wringing them out several times till neither they or I smelled the slightest bit like sewer. Then filling up the bag filled with slime nuclei, I swished them around with the solution as well. Unfortunately, during the process, the partially cracked advanced nuclei cracked the rest of the way open. I then had to rinse and dilute the spheres multiple times to clear out the highly acidic inner core fluid.
As long last, all the cleaning was done. Victoria had knocked on the door and left out a towel and a pair of clothing to change into just outside the shower stall. The rough texture of the towel felt good in an achy way, as I dried off the droplets left over from the abrasive shower.
Leaving my freshly washed clothes to lay out on the stone bench, along with the rinsed cores, I donned the clean and dry clothes. Then stepping out from the shower, I tread with careful movements in the direction of the small piece of paradise I had but glimpsed before.
The sight before me left me stunned into silence. Beautiful beyond any illustration I'd ever seen of the garden of Eden, this seemed like such a place, if such was determined to be real. The closest I could come to it would be in recollection of an old movie that was a favorite of mine, called Maleficent. The Moors presented in that movie, had at that time moved me so deeply as I yearned to live for real in such a beautiful place.
What additionally left me speechless, was the presence of what looked like actual fairies! Small lithe and flighty creatures with wings and a myriad of colors for simple clothing, dashed about in the air as they lighted upon the many flowers and leaves. Appearing careless of my presence, they continued about their unique dance.
A small waterfall glistening with a blue tone in the sun-lit sky trickled down and forming into a stream that circled lazily yet with an artistic feel around the many larger trees, lower level bushes, and ground level plants.
Amidst it all, I caught a glimpse of the small squirrel like figure of Tirene popping in and out of view. I almost missed Victoria as she was hunched beside a bush, with a pair of clippers. Stepping in closer, I peered down at her. She appeared to be taking small trimmings of the plants as shown by several small other types of clippings beside her.
"It's good to see you are nice and clean finally." She spoke up without looking at me as she appeared fully focused on the task at hand. I quietly watched as she trimmed an additional branch that seemed to disrupt the natural beauty and flow of the plant. Her skill as an arborist was not lacking in the slightest. Even as I watched, she cupped he hand over the jagged edges of the shorn branch and a light green misty glow spread forth from her hand.
But a single moment passed, and that freshly cut end piece had already rounded over with new growth, without a hint of scarring to be seen. This was honestly far too much like that movie. It was as if Victoria herself was a young Maleficent with her skills. Minus the wings of course and before her angry transformation.
Finally, as if to say she had done everything she could, Victoria stood back up and brushed off what little debris clung to her clothing. "That should do it." Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she then turned to me with a brilliant smile. "Welcome to my garden, my own little piece of paradise in this city." Mischief colored her words as she asked. "What do you think of it?"
My throat had gone dry, and as I stared down at the trickling water, I desperately wanted to quench my thirst with its enticing allure.
"Hahaha!" Seeing my gaze, Victoria laughed at my expression. "Go ahead and have a taste." As I carefully moved forward to not step on anything but the few scattered stepping stones, I knelt down beside the trickling waters. Cupping my hands to gather up the sparkling liquid within them, I drank from my palms. The cooling refreshing and stimulating sensation that coursed through me was all that I could imagine and more. All the exhaustion built up from the culling of the sewer slimes was just washed away with that single drink.
I looked at the stream again, feeling a conflicting desire to continue drinking from it, but I also sensed a kind of fullness within my body as if it was saying it was too full. Victoria again laughed at my internal impasse. *chuckle* "It's better that you don't try to drink any more. Your body can only handle so much of a liquid elixir such as this." I turned my surprised gaze back at her. "Yes, although it is highly diluted for the sake of not stimulating wild uncontrolled growth within my garden, it is still a precious healing elixir." Her lips twitched in humor. "You just drank about a gold in value worth of elixir."
*Cough* *Cough* I choked up at the sudden revelation. I didn't even have half of that saved up yet. Wait maybe I could sell some of the cores to make up the difference.
Watching on at my racing concern, Victoria intervened. "As my apprentice, you should know that this is a free gift to you." *Sigh* "You do seem to have an overwhelming desire to shoulder burdens that you don't need to take on all the time. Accept that which is freely given, without the need to offer recompense. I will let you know if ever I need a favor in the future. But until then, simply learn and accept what I can offer as your teacher and master."