NOVEL NEXT Chapter 229 – A Long Overdue Recollection
- Shari -
Bokkan takes his leave, after discussing the ramifications of what we're doing to Nia a bit longer.
As I don't want anyone to influence Nia in her suggestible state, I order everyone to stay away from her and lock the door.
Liqu argued that verbal input will only be registered as orders, and wouldn't lead to permanent commands for the core, but for my taste, the line is a bit too blurry in this regard.
Okin was the hardest to convince to stay out of there, as it meant leaving his sister alone, locked up in the cellar.
I don't even believe I managed to, but in this regard, it helps to be a deadly monster, as it grants you a certain level of assertiveness in a discussion.
It's not like he can do much about it, as we are in a favorable position.
However, this decision has a certain downside.
Because Liqu's room was basically the cellar, I had to make a concession to convince her to leave it.
Which leads to this:
"To be clear, you can spend the night here in my room, but we won't have any physical contact. Otherwise, you'll end up in the guest room." (Shari)
"Yes, yes! Oh my, this will be so nice! I really missed us doing this!" (Liqu)
She seems to be very excited about the prospect of resting in the same room as me, which is concerning at best.
"Fine, but I have some reading to do. So don't bother me." (Shari)
"Oh... But I... I hoped..." (Liqu)
What is it now?
"Liqu, we agreed on no linking." (Shari)
"No, not linking. I just... hoped... we could... talk." (Liqu)
Talking?
She seems weirdly concerned about this.
Even starting this nervous tick of hers where she taps her formed index fingers together so they form a slime strand every time they separate.
Liqu doesn't often opt for this over linking.
Usually, she seems to see verbal information transfer as something inferior.
She likes her observations, but many things that are said she tends to quickly forget again.
This might be linked to the disposition of the ability of a core to hold information.
She's picky with what's worth to ingrain in there.
So talking for the sake of talking isn't a too often occurrence, even if it is with me.
"Okay. This seems to be important for you. What do you want to talk about?" (Shari)
"Uh, there's something I wanted to ask you, Shari." (Liqu)
Open curiosity?
It's not like I can deny her this.
"Alright. Stating questions is usually fine, as long as they're not implying something offending. But you need to keep in mind that just because you're asking, people have no obligation to answer. Some things are a secret for a reason or are too personal to tell others." (Shari)
It can't hurt to educate her on those things.
It's important that she knows there are limits to acceptable questions.
Liqu seems to contemplate my words before proceeding.
"I wanted to ask you... You see, I noticed that keeping the girl alive is very important to you. And that's fine, but could I ask why it's so important to you? They were mean to you before, and you didn't know the girl when this started. If she's so young and inexperienced she might even become the cause of our exposure, which would mean more trouble for you. Why are you going to such lengths for her?" (Liqu)
Wow, right to the depth of things.
While there might be a bunch of influencing factors, like pity for a young girl, or simply the value of life, in conclusion, there's but one answer to this thing.
But it's slightly embarrassing to tell her this.
"Uh, this might be one of those things that are private." (Shari)
"Oh please! I really want to know! I want to understand you!" (Liqu)
God, she's somewhat desperate for it.
Hard to deny her here.
Sigh, but if she's like this I might at least have her stating something equally personal.
"I'll tell you, but only under one condition! You have to tell me something I ask, without any limits." (Shari)
If she has to weigh her own experiences against it, she'll learn about the value of private information.
"Yes! I'd tell you everything about me! I'm completely open to you!" (Liqu)
"And if I want to hear about what happened with that dragon you're always mentioning?" (Shari)
At this, she becomes suddenly still.
"That is..." (Liqu)
"Personal, I know. So it sounds fair to me." (Shari)
"Sorry. You, you're right. It is fair. I want us to understand each other better. So telling each other those things is important. So please, can you tell me?" (Liqu)
Liqu would never cheat me by not telling her part once I'm done.
So I suppose I can answer.
"Okay, if you really want to know, it's mostly because I promised to save her. I couldn't bear to fail her after this. One simply shouldn't promise things one can't keep. If I couldn't save her I would've done just this." (Shari)
"I know. That's who you are. Promises are important to you. But I want to know why. As far as I know, other humans don't care as much as you do about their promises. Also, you are as well fine with disguising and saying things that aren't true. But then, why are promises so important to you?" (Liqu)
"I can tell you, but I fear the answer is going to be disappointing." (Shari)
"I still want to know!" (Liqu)
"Sigh! You see, I always was a bit of the adventurous sort. I loved to see new things, take in unfamiliar environments, discover interesting objects, or hear about the stories the adventurers who came to our village told. However, once I was through everything around the village there was nothing else to find anymore. Back when I was eleven, my family had, for some reason that I can't even remember anymore, to travel to Siras. I guess it was something about selling our stuff and buying some special items for the household that we couldn't acquire in our remote village. To them, it was just a household duty they had to fulfill. To me, it was the biggest thing that ever happened before." (Shari)
"Why?" (Liqu)
"Oh, you have no idea. Siras is like the wealthiest and therefore most extravagant city in the country. Beautiful houses, great palaces, and all the newest merchandise is found right there. To the eleven-year-old me the idea of visiting this place was like the greatest thing ever." (Shari)
"Then why didn't we go there instead when we set out back then?" (Liqu)
"Because people guarding nice places would actually investigate those who enter. We'd never have made it through the gate. Not to forget that we had no money to speak of. There's no way we'd be able to sustain ourselves. Can I continue?" (Shari)
"Sure!" (Liqu)
"Fine. You know, when the chance for the journey there came up, I begged my parents to let me go with them. Naturally, they were against it. As I mentioned before, I was known for causing trouble, and it's not like the whole thing would've been completely safe, and so on, and so on. However, I didn't accept a no and kept at it. My parents didn't have one calm minute during this time. So like a worn-out wall, they eventually caved in. I would be allowed to accompany them if I were to be perfectly well-behaved and do everything they say till the fateful day arrives. And I did! Not a single quarrel, no brawls, no backtalking. I did every goddamn duty they put on me and made extra sure to solve them perfectly. I was so determined not to mess up. Not to give them a single reason why this could fail. And I persevered." (Shari)
Sigh.
This is really personal.
It's not like there's anything embarrassing about that story, but it's kinda weird telling Liqu such things just because she asked.
"So you succeeded and they took you with them?" (Liqu)
Yeah, that surely is that kind of story, right?
"No. When the day of departure came and I woke up, they were already gone. They left me a letter saying that they'd arranged for the time being I would get to live with Ms. Oka. Turns out, from the start, there was no way they could supervise me while going about whatever business they had in town. Apparently, they just wanted me to stop pestering them. So they threw me that bone so that I would be quiet in the hope I couldn't go through with it. They got a bad conscience when I was that super well-behaved child, but seems like that just wasn't enough to convince them otherwise. I was so angry at them for so long. The worst wasn't really that I couldn't go with them. That sucked, but eventually I would've gotten over it. No, the worst was this feeling of betrayal. Nothing could compare to this. If they'd just lied to me that there was no journey, then fine. I'd have sulked but eventually turned towards new things. Still not great, but not half as bad as having something you committed yourself so much to getting ripped away again. That they seriously kept on going with that wrong impression, that hurt. For real, a punch to the face wouldn't have been half as bad." (Shari)
Funny how recalling a memory can make all the associated emotions resurface.
Seems like I'm still bitter about this.
"Well, and that's it. The little girl I was back then decided that breaking a promise is like the worst thing one could do. So I decided then and there that I'd never stoop so low as my parents. Maybe that was some form of vengeance on my part at the start. Some way to indirectly tell them 'Look, I'm better than you'. But with time it became a habit and eventually a part of myself. There's no great secret, or special oath to it. Just a rebellious girl being angry at her parents. As I said, it's disappointing." (Shari)
I'm done with my story but when I look up I see how endless streams of slime rush down from Liqu's eyes.
"Liqu..." (Shari)
"YOU POOR THING!! You were so hopeful, and they just took away your happiness!! Waahh!!!" (Liqu)
It takes actually quite a long time till Liqu's done with bawling her slime eyes out.
Which might not be too impressive a feat for a slime, but she was certainly distraught.
The best way to help her out of this is by distracting her.
"Okay, but now I want to hear about that dragon." (Shari)
"Uh, right. Can't break my promise!" (Liqu)
Seems like I influenced her more than I thought with my retelling.
"Ehm, but that one could also be a little disappointing." (Liqu)
"What about a dragon could be disappointing? Now tell!" (Shari)
"It was, so you know, a considerable period after I discovered that I'm different from other slimes. I grew to be much larger than any slime before. I felt great. No predator could even touch me, and because I wasn't edible to them they didn't bother me. There were days when I killed just because I could. To prove that I'm the biggest threat in the forest to be found." (Liqu)
"And then you encountered a dragon?" (Shari)
"Well, to me it was just a strange big creature with scales. It didn't bother me that its size was vastly exceeding mine, even though I already grew so much at this point. But there were many of those before, and they never stood a chance." (Liqu)
"So you got cocky and decided to fight a dragon?" (Shari)
"I didn't really know what it was, but it had so much energy that it was just too tempting. It outright shone to my senses. So I attacked it. The first thing I noticed was that the scales of that thing were extremely resistant to dissolving. The second was that it was much faster than I thought. But what really surprised me was when it started spewing fire at its own body to get rid of me. Never experienced such fierce flames. They didn't even seem to harm its own body. Also, it was impressive how moveable its head was to get at me from every angle. In addition, it was rather smart. It placed a series of fire breaths in a way that I had to retreat to the extremities, only to focus completely on shaking me off. I immediately wanted to jump at it again, but then it started to fly. After that, it unleashed an inferno on me." (Liqu)
Inferno?
That sounds harsh.
"You mean what I saw back when the count's mansion was burning?" (Shari)
"It, it was terrible. Just, just thinking back to it is hard on me. It was flying out of my reach and turned the whole world around me to ash! No, not to ash, to molten stone! For some reason, it didn't need to stop at any point. The fire kept on going forever. An endless stream that just evaporated all my slime. The heat was so intense that I couldn't think, couldn't act in any way. And even after all my slime was gone it still kept going! My core didn't melt, but the world around me did. I started to sink in until the liquid stone completely encompassed me. I don't know how much longer it took, but eventually, the heat subsided. After that, I was encapsulated in the ground. It took me an eternity to gather enough energy to dissolve myself out of my predicament. I had no sense of time there. When I finally managed to get out, the world was still scarred at that place. I was still terribly afraid that the dragon might finish me off, but apparently, it just left. It seems it just couldn't find me anymore once I sunk below the earth. So I just fled away, with a new sense of danger. Seen in the long run, this might've saved my life many times afterward." (Liqu)
With this Liqu concludes her story.
"That's all there was to this. As I said, disappointing, right?" (Liqu)
Well, you fought a dragon and lived to tell the tale.
That's quite a feat in itself.
"I don't think so. After all, it was an important experience for you. It made you who you are. You shouldn't forget the lesson, but don't let the fear control your life either. If it helps, I don't plan on challenging any dragons in the future." (Shari)
Liqu contemplates my words for a moment before speaking up again.
"Thank you, Shari. For listening. And for the sympathy." (Liqu)
Am I sympathetic with Liqu?
Well, maybe a little bit.
Sounds like quite the horror experience she went through there.
"Well, now that we’ve both presented our emotional deadweight, let's call it a day and rest for the night." (Shari)
"Yes, yes." (Liqu)
Tomorrow is going to be another day.