To recalibrate our current position, we are now camping out right on the border of the empire, in a little forest close enough to a village for me to steal from it but not close enough for Simel to realise that that’s what I’m doing. Camping of this sort has been our modus operandi for months...
2023-06-06 14:06:33 +0000 UTC
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Getting the money to pay for the boat was pretty easy. The problem was convincing Simel that I wasn’t going to kill, rob or loot anyone to get the money.
But I was able to cook up a pretty good half-truth. Basically, I told him that I’d been able to get one of the city’s rich judges t...
2023-06-05 09:38:32 +0000 UTC
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“Did you hear what happened last night? Nasty business!” the innkeeper says in greeting as we step up to the counter. A number of goblins are already seated in the dining room, not a few of them giving me looks that can, at best, be described as unsavoury. They’re looking at me in the same ...
2023-06-05 09:34:58 +0000 UTC
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And, like that, we left the city of… what was it called? Standsore? Something like that.
Before we left fully, though, I stopped by a little shop and, uh, ‘borrowed’ a map. See, we’re here, and to get to the empire, we’ll need to pass through a couple of cities, a number ...
2023-06-05 09:30:03 +0000 UTC
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I put my hands on my hips, hopefully only resembling a disappointed mother by coincidence. “Now, why would you go and do that?” He stares up at me with the same kind of look he’s had the past couple of days. I heave a sigh, mostly just to show him how I really thought better of him. I mean,...
2023-06-05 09:26:31 +0000 UTC
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The room was not quite dark. In these places, the night was never entirely dark. Not like at home, where night held its rule for all hours of the night, only unwillingly banished once the sun took her throne. Down here, the moons seemed so much brighter, and the stars were so many.
The nigh...
2023-06-04 13:58:11 +0000 UTC
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“So, yeah. For now, how about I go get you a bowl of that soup I mentioned? That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? And, just so you know, there’s no meat in it whatsoever, and the broth wasn’t distilled from any blood, so it’s totally pure and fresh and healthy and all-organic.” Sayi...
2023-06-04 13:48:15 +0000 UTC
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Simel of Acheron—also called Simel the Survivor by those his ruling entailed—awoke from his deep sleep sometime in the early afternoon. He found himself inside a bedroom he had never seen before, with walls of yellowstone and furniture of thickreeds.
It was a simple room, one t...
2023-06-04 13:43:40 +0000 UTC
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In the middle of the night, while Simel is still sleeping, I grab all of the bodies and put them in this one room, off to the side. I’m not sure exactly what kind of room it was originally, but like the front door, it was one of few rooms protected by both a door and a lock, said lock actually ...
2023-06-03 17:38:40 +0000 UTC
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“—Simel!” The word erupts joyously from my throat and I turn my head to look at his face. “Simel, we’re here! We finally got here! Simel, the city, it’s—” He doesn’t react. His face is slumped over across my back, eyes closed, mouth slightly open, ears drooping. I can feel my ch...
2023-06-03 17:34:34 +0000 UTC
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After such a night, I wanted to let Simel sleep. But he didn’t want to sleep. He just kept awake, curled up, hiding inside a cocoon of bear pelts. So, as to not waste the hours, I decided to set out again.
<You have learned:
Lichen Tolerance Lv.4>
I absently scratch the ...
2023-06-01 14:58:18 +0000 UTC
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I stare at him, more confused than anything. “Simel, what the heck are you doing?”
His chest spasms up and down, anxious little breaths hopping out of his throat. His eyes tremble, never leaving me for a moment. Somehow, it doesn’t even feel like he’s looking at me, but rat...
2023-06-01 14:54:32 +0000 UTC
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Simel cries. I have to pry him away from the lizard’s empty-eyed head. Getting him into the empty cavity I made of the lizard’s abdomen is even harder. By the time I climb in as well—the only bit of Simel’s possessions I was able to bring along being his satchel—Simel’s curled up into...
2023-06-01 14:50:30 +0000 UTC
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It starts out pretty okay. We walk at a calm pace, only pausing to fight off the local wildlife or to pick up some cacti here and there. My human leather thigh-high boots broke after only a few hours, though I easily substituted them with some snake skin. And then, the trek continued.
We to...
2023-06-01 14:45:52 +0000 UTC
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“Simel, I really don’t know what it is you want to do with that lizard, but I think we should do away with it. It is clearly feral. Totally untrustable.” Mumbling such things, I watch Simel as he rummages through the things in the tent, eventually finding a small knapsack. He looks inside o...
2023-05-26 11:25:23 +0000 UTC
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By the time we arrive, the sun has risen fully, banishing any former tendrils of the night’s cold. In the dry heat of the sun, the encampment doesn’t look like much of anything. There’s a big pile of ash encasing the woolly drake I killed, and then there are the two tents in the distance, n...
2023-05-26 11:22:12 +0000 UTC
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<The Day of Grand Conference
will end in 00:00>
<The Day of Grand Conference
has ended.>
<Thank you for participating!
You will now be returned to your lobbies.>
…
…
…Hm? Where… where am I?...
I pry open my crusty eye...
2023-05-26 11:17:08 +0000 UTC
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Though, of course, since it would be rude to chug the clearly expensive drink, I just take a sip. The status messages will be sure to roll in any second no—
Hang on a second. This is…
Moleman grins at me. “It’s good, isn’t it?”
…Good? This; good?
I b...
2023-05-25 07:57:27 +0000 UTC
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I wave in the air. “That’s only if I’m really hurt, though.” He doesn’t look like he agrees much. “Th—that’s how it works, right?”
Moleman pulls his lips tight. “Listen, Kitty… If you accidentally see a guy stub his toe, that’s a bit upsetting even if he did...
2023-05-25 07:54:07 +0000 UTC
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I blink at the message. The next words I was about to say die on my tongue.
“Oh, shoot, um, I’m about to disappear, but like I said, I’ll be back in twenty-four hours, so just sit tight, and try not to get yourself kille—”
The last thing I have time to see before the summoni...
2023-05-25 07:50:42 +0000 UTC
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A little while later, just as I was starting to worry he might have tried to take off, Simel returns from his break. He seems thoughtful as he trudges in through the door, but I’m just glad I didn’t check up on him mid-way. I close the door behind him.
“Did it, um, go well?” I ask. ...
2023-05-25 07:46:32 +0000 UTC
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By the time the sun rises once more, the giant has been almost completely cleared of his parasitic infection, and I’m feeling a fair bit rejuvenated from last night. Ahhh, is there anything better than to stand in the morning sun, with a full belly and an organic, full-body moisturiser, rich in...
2023-05-25 07:42:03 +0000 UTC
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I stare at the message before my eyes. It stares back at me.
What…?
There’s a little sound below and I look down to see Simel’s face twist in pain. He gives another whimper. My mind is whirling. What? What? What? What?
Slowly, I stand up. Then I back away, over to the othe...
2023-05-07 12:14:46 +0000 UTC
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The cactus, bird and a pretty substantial bit of the skin and flesh on my back all fall off with a thud, the spines of the cactus finding a new home in the crib’s twitching flesh.
—Task complete! See, was that so hard? Not at all. Simple stuff.
To show him the prickly fruits of my...
2023-05-07 12:10:38 +0000 UTC
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Once I get back to the crib, it’s been at least a couple of hours since I left. In fact, it’s turned dark, and the cold is starting to creep in. I’m not exactly sure how long Simel’s been on his own, but… Actually, let’s get a specific number on that one.
<Top—Status—Comm...
2023-05-07 12:06:21 +0000 UTC
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See, was that so hard? I almost want to make a joke about his indecisiveness, but I don’t think he’d take it too well right now.
“Right! Great, thank you for agreeing. In that case, I’ll get going straight away. I’ll check the camp you had, but… yeah. We’ll see.” Saying so, ...
2023-05-07 12:02:52 +0000 UTC
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He woke up a few hours later. Careful not to repeat my earlier mistake, I kept by his side the whole time. Sometimes he’d actually make a noise—something I thought him incapable of—though this was mainly in the form of whimpers. Combined with the way his body flinched and jerked every so of...
2023-05-07 11:57:34 +0000 UTC
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I don’t know if it’s noticable but I really like drawing this guy. hehe
2023-05-04 14:03:09 +0000 UTC
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(AN: I would like to preface this by explaining a bunch of stuff. To preface, this is a scrapped version of events that I wrote before fully understanding my own intentions for floor 15. No planning, no thoughts, just barging straight ahead. Kind of dumb. (Very dumb.) So, I wrote it, all 23 A4 pa...
2023-04-22 21:46:05 +0000 UTC
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In that case, it might actually be a good thing that he took it out of my hands—it is, after all, a limited-edition deluxe unique item. I wonder how much it might sell for in the shop? Not as much as her crown, but, you know… Still!
On the other hand, if Simel would rather have it as a ...
2023-04-22 21:35:24 +0000 UTC
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