Chapitre 16: "Food"
Being jostled awake by Zara in the pre-dawn hours, I looked around, confusion clouding my thoughts. Realization suddenly set in; apparently this morning marked the start of our expedition to find the materials required for the fertility drug. I couldn't help but feel bewildered by the goblins' eagerness as I was dragged by Zarra out of the hut. Most of the goblins, along with Mackinzie, were waiting with supplies to see us off.
Mackinzie handed me a backpack crafted from a large, square basket lined with rawhide and with straps. As I inspected its contents, I found a variety of foodstuffs, a length of cordage, and the water bottle I had redeemed from my system's store.
"Please be safe," Mackinzie said, her scowl from last night still lingering, as the other goblins watched us depart. We began our journey, trekking east through the woods. After a while of walking, I couldn't contain my curiosity.
"So, how far away is our destination? Also, I'm hoping to find materials while we're further from camp. Do you know of any places with green rocks or where we might find unusual ones?"
Zarra considered my questions for a moment. "It will take us six days of walking," she replied before adding, "I do know of some other caves, but I have not seen green rocks. Perhaps Sonx or Ies might know; they are usually the ones who go out to hunt," she explained, gesturing to the two other goblins who accompanied us.
Turing towards them, one energetically waved while saying, "I am Ies, I know a little about strange rocks, but not green ones."" Looking at her she was wearing the same tatter cloths that the other goblins wear, with a small bust and hips, especially when compared to Zarra, but they fit her slim and toned body well.
Taking a moment to inspect the other goblin, apparently named Sonx, who shared the same yellow eyes and black hair as the rest of her tribe. Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders, past her small breasts, and finally ended just above her wide, luscious hips. Sonx returned my gaze with a look of confusion, prompting Ies to explain, "Sorry, she doesn't speak Common," before the three girls started holding a quick conversation in goblin.
After a back and forth between Zarra and Sonx in their rough, guttural language, Zarra turned and said, "She says that there is a cliff a little north of where we are going with lots of green spots on the rocks." Eventually, after another back and forth between me and the goblins, with Zarra acting as an interpreter, it was eventually agreed on that we would stop at a few spots of interest to collect materials, before heading to Zarra's goal.
Our journey continued on, quickly taking us beyond the well-trod game trails and paths the goblins would regularly make use of, being replaced by the large interwoven roots sparling out from the looming trees. Between long stretches of us walking, we would come across a stream and the goblins would stop to drink, before continuing.
Along the way, danger lurked. We remained vigilant, aware of rustling in the underbrush and subtle movements that signaled the presence of hidden creatures. One memorable encounter pitted us against a trio of gelatinous slimes, their translucent bodies refracting the light around them. The goblins didn't seem particularly interested in them, and were about to stab at them with their stone spears, when I suddenly asked, "Hey are they dangerous?"
"Not on their own, but if there are a bunch of them or other monsters, then they can be dangerous." Energetically chirped in response, as she lowered her spear.
"Do you think I could keep them?" I asked thinking back to the book I got from my system. There was a offhanded mention of beast taming and contract magic for summoning. While the author didn't go into detail, it couldn't hurt to try using the weakest monsters to try and figure it out.
Looking to my traveling companions, none of them voiced any complaint. So, I scooped up the three slimes and after folding down the hide in my pack to separate my food, I placed the slimes inside. Wearing my pack, we set off again, a cool tendril occasionally brushing against me as we walked.
---
Hours past, the light peaking through the thick canopy slowly transforming from bright yellow, to orange, before finally settling on red as the sun set. Zarra called out, "We should stop and camp," while dropping her pack on the ground.
Even though the sun hadn't set yet, the feeble light that was cast, barely penetrated the looming shadows and pervasive darkness that was quickly spreading. The goblins quickly went out to collect firewood, while I dug a firepit using a nearby stick.
After the sun had already set, I heard a rustling nearby. Turning to look, Zarra and the others appeared, seemingly unperturbed by the darkness, with arms full of sticks. Surprised by how smoothly they moved around in the dark I decided to ask, "how are you able to move around so well in the dark?"
"We can still see", was all Zarra said. "Wait, like just normally? Does everything just look the same whether there is light or not?" I asked incredulously.
"If there isn't any light everything looks grey?" Ies, responded instead of Zarra. After marveling at the reality of the world I found myself in, and being tired of early being able to see, I quickly built up the sticks and after igniting it with magic, sat down next to the fire as is sprang to life.
While sitting there enjoying the fire, soreness permeating my legs, not used to walking for hours on end over uneven terrain, Sonx sheepishly pulled out one of the wide, shallow clay dishes we made from her bag and nudged it towards me.
"What do you want me to do with this?" I asked, pretty sure what she wanted. "Food," she said very seriously, nodding self-satisfied at being able to adequately answer my question, in her mind at least. With a sigh, I took the dish, and taking meat collected from some of our enemy encounters earlier in the day, I added it to the dish with a bit of water and set it next to the fire. Next, I pulled the pack I had dumped when we arrived, unfastening the straps holding the rawhide flaps closed, surprised momentarily, my exhaustion addled mind having forgotten about the hitchhikers I had picked up, before grabbing the slimes and setting them down on the ground. After watching the slimes jiggle about for a minute, I reached in the bag and pulled out these large, somewhat soft roots that reminded me of yams, but were the roots of a small tree that grew between the roots of the larger trees in the forest, leaching nutrients and water from them. The goblins would manage these parasitic trees, replanting them after harvesting, and even purposely spread them throughout the forest. Cutting the, not, yams into wedges using my knife, I added them to the pot along with green onion shoots and a little more water, letting it simmer for a while.
The girls were watching anxiously as the food cooked, constantly looking between me and the pot, as if they were expecting something exiting to happen. Eventually the food was done, using sticks I removed the pot from the firepit, and immediately three clay mugs apparated out of thin air, after scooping out portions for the girls using a crude wooden spoon, I had carved in my down time between managing the kiln, before sitting down to enjoy the food.
Everyone quickly dug into their meal, while eating I suddenly felt something pressing against my leg. Looking down there were two blue and one green basketball sized blobs crowding around me, feeling bad for the little guys I set down what was left of the food and broth. I watched as they slowly changed shape, growing a tendrils before dipping them into the pot and with an undulating motion I saw small beads of broth traveling up the tendrils, before dispersing into their bodies.
Afterwards the goblins and I started having a conversation about who would keep watch, and it was quickly decided that the person who couldn't see in the dark would be exempt. Having been given a pass, I quickly curled up on the ground near the fire and drifted off to sleep.
---
Feeling something wrap around my leg, I was roughly awoken by being dragged across the ground. I opened my eyes, and all I saw was dark blurs of green streaking past me as I was being battered against hard roots, before being hauled up into the air as several roots wrapped around me.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
CountZemi
CountZemi My new meds have been kicking my ass, and I was really struggling to get this out. I am thinking about settling on a mon-wed-fri release schedule and using the other days to build up a bit of a backlog. Let me know what you think.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone