No way Grandpa let himself be left out in Mezoid's palace, and I'm so mad at myself because I wasn't able to convince him.
But Grandpa isn't shallow; he has his reasons for coming up with that decision.
Grandpa didn't raise a crybaby, a sulker, or a bellyacher. I need to pick myself up!
Though Grandpa pushed me away, I will still go for him and save him from the hands of Mezoid; otherwise, he'll be completely at the mercy of the voodooist's experiment.
I don't know where I was transported to after I was sucked into that whirlpool. The surroundings are highly unfamiliar, with detrimental Meadow Ferals hissing at me.
Barely clothed, I stood up and ran as fast as I could as giant snakes rushed to eat me. However, when the diamond fragments pulsated, that's when I found out that the snakes were after it.
It's not just an average snake; its skin is made up of entirely green blobs, and anything it consumes gets dissolved easily. Out of breath, I had nowhere to run when they cornered me.
I have no weapon to use.
I am defenseless.
I am helpless.
"Shit!" I muttered, clutching my fists as they teased me with their attack.
My heart pounded rapidly as they drew near me, but just as they were about to partake me, they broke into pieces as their bodies solidified.
Helcus the monk had just thrown prayer beads at them, which wore down their bodies and hardened them like igneous rock.
"Phew, I can almost see the light inviting me to come with it," I mumbled to myself as I felt relief.
I'm indebted to him for saving me. He explained that those terra crawlers were Blobbiboas and they're fond of preying on travelers with no sense of direction.
"You made your friends worried when they inadvertently stumbled into the temple, hoping to find you," he said. "It got me thinking, perhaps you're lost in this forest, comparing your world to ours? Or is it?"
"I was just swimming by the river when I saw this adorable Meadow Feral. I followed it, not realizing I'd wandered off until I felt a strange sensation, like I'd been bewitched," I lied.
But looking at Helcus's straight expression, it seemed like he bought into my explanation with conviction.
"As a foreigner in this land, keep yourself company at all times if you'd like to roam Oshiri Glaze safely next time," he said with a tone of warning. "Those who seek the Diamond Oyster view you as a hindrance to their plans, and when they see you, they're not going to hang back from dispatching you."
"If the Diamond Oyster is that powerful, why wouldn't it protect me from danger? Why wouldn't it grant me powers? It assigned me to be its Fragment Collector but won't give me certain conditions. I guess I forgot to read the terms and agreement thoroughly and hit the proceed button too quickly."
"It's not that easy to explain, Kintsugi."
"I made the right choice by roaming around the forest. Despite this job not paying or giving me any incentives, I declare that I have a rest day once a week."
"So how's your grandpa?"
"He's having the best days of his life, lounging in a five-star hotel. Don't you think that's what Mezoid is making him think in his cell?"
Helcus burst out laughing, a side of him that I'd never witnessed before. Later on, he fixed his composure and returned to his sagacious, creepy boss-like self.
"You're just like Kaeron. When he was your age, he used to lie a lot, and I always pretended that what he told me was true. But I could read him, and he let me read his mind, so in the end I always knew the truth behind his lies. That's how our friendship works."
"If Grandpa's a pathological liar, then you're a monk with a superiority complex."
"Whatever kind of people we were back then, we're not like that anymore."
When Helcus and I arrived at the Oshiki Temple, we were greeted by the gang, but seeing Floette, she looked like she was going to bury me alive, and to avoid getting grazed by her claws, I commanded her to maintain a ten-meter distance from me.
Rosenth handed me the clothes I had left by the riverbank.
"Floette was the first to notice your disappearance," she said. "Through your scent, she followed your tracks but lost them when we stepped near a fire that had been doused with water. She's pissed, and I think she has the right to be mad at you."
"She is, but that doesn't give her the prerogative to hurt me."
When everything settled down, except for Floette's grievance towards me, we set off from Oshiki Temple.
Darkness enveloped the sky, and as the bleak air enveloped us on our trek to find a free lodge, Floette intensified her anger towards me. As the megalomaniac she is, she wants me to kneel down and beg for her forgiveness, which I'll never do.
This Ghoul thinks so lowly of me, and if she's forgotten, I have full control of her actions. I faced her, which made everyone halt their steps.
"I command you to build a temporary shelter for us."
After hearing my demand, she purred in disapproval. The tiara glowed, and she was forced to cut and collect branches.
We even heard her complaints, curses, and death threats, but the more she provoked me with her appalling attitude, the more I wanted to toy with her.
"We're starving. Get us some food," I requested as we settled into the small shrieking hut she built for us.
"Why don't you get it yourself?" she retorted, showing her clenched fist.
"Floette, cover your mouth," I commanded, and she was forced to do so. "I don't want to hear any more of your rants. Go and get us food. And on a side note, if you pass by a river, take a bath. You reek of decaying cadaver."
She left the hut with a burning desire to avenge herself for being treated as a servant.
"You're taking it a bit far, don't you think?" Rosenth asked me as she sat on the wood floor.
"Yeah," Kooki agreed. "That's like unleashing the inner monster in her."
"Not at all, that would teach her a lesson," I replied, looking at Floette's silhouette in the night. "I'm making use of our advantage. She views us as inferiors, and if we show a little toughness and villainy, that might change her views. She won't belittle us anymore."
"You're lawfully evil, Kintsugi," added Kooki in a comical tone that made me laugh.
Everyone is in the depths of hibernation, and here I am, switching positions, unable to sleep serenely due to the caroling flies buzzing in my ears. And when a strong, familiar odor draws closer, it awakens me.
I sense the presence of the Diamond Oyster!
But I roll sideways as Floette's claws shoot towards my neck.
She growls in dismay as her attempt to assassinate me ends in vain.
Rosenth and Kooki rise to her outburst.
"Why do you aggravate me so much?" she says with a grating tone. "You're like an irritating nucleus in my head that no matter how I try to obliterate, you'll just regenerate, and it makes me unwell!"
She tries to attack me again, but when I aim the arrow at her, it makes her draw back.
I can simply command her to stay away from me or hurt herself, but the thought of her ending my life makes anger overwhelm my emotions.
"Make a move, or I'll propel this arrow," I say with a cautionary tone.
She gives me a "then-do-it-if-you-can" look, and my hands shake, unsure if I can release the arrow perfectly.
"Ha, the courage to aim me with an arrow when, in fact, that weapon isn't listening to you."
The ground suddenly shakes until the hut ultimately collapses. A giant monster that I assume is made of clay appears from underground.
Its body is covered with bemoaning faces, and when the Diamond Oyster hints at its origin, that's when I figure out that it's made up of corpses from fallen warriors.
It appears that this exact spot is where they're dumped and left without a proper funeral.
One diamond fragment has bestowed them all with power and the ability to spread tremors.
It introduces itself as Nayabo.
"Give us the diamond fragments, or we'll end up feasting on you," it says. By looking at its salivating mouth, it looks starving.
Floette jumps to my defense. "No one can lay a hand on this entitled mortal except me," she says to Nayabo. "Only I can kill him and retrieve the diamond fragments."
Floette has all the confidence in the world to fight the clay monster. In her desire to offer us protection, the tiara lets her use her hair-whipping ability. However, her ego has no match against him.
Every time Nayabo turns into chunks, he regenerates, and when he's hurt, he heals.
Wrath is evident in Floette's actions, and to release her fury, she's using Nayabo as her punching bag and kicking dummy.
That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks: Floette is just a Ghoul, incapable of understanding complex human emotions.
She was the first to notice my disappearance, and when she lost track of me, it pissed her off.
She was worried to the extent that she'd go miles out of her way and overexert herself searching for me, and when I appeared, I didn't even say a word to her, which elevated her anger.
I had mostly been toying with her feelings.
"I think Floette is starting to care about you," is what Rosenth said to me at the temple.
"He doesn't care about me," I replied. "She cared because I looked like her ex-lover, whom she was deprived of."
When she retrieved the diamond fragment from Nayabo, she came to me and handed it over without saying a word.
She left and jumped from branch to branch of the trees, perhaps to unwind herself. I didn't stop her; I just let her take a break for a while.
The next morning, I dove into the river to soothe myself, and before they could think of looking for me again, especially Floette, I appeared before them, bare-naked, holding a bundle of Creamfish. Floette just glared at me bitterly, and to make it up to her, I handed her a cooked Creamfish that I had roasted myself.