Chương 7: Curious Site

"Lord Hesties! News from the edge." The scout captain said while bending at the waist.

"Well, let's hear it." Having given up on finding anything of value in the dense jungle bordering their lands. Honestly Hesties sent just enough men out to show the nobles he was making the attempt. Those greedy bastards just can't be happy with all they have and complain at every event about their lack of cultivation resources. Heavens forbid they just put in the hard work and time it takes to build their core. The fools just suck up every crystal and eat every mana beast they can get their grubby hands on.

Half are stuck at the liquid stage, having barely compressed their mist enough to create a drop or two. Annoying and weak is a bad combination.

"Lord we have withdrawn the majority of troops from the edge and left the single company lead by Captain Rictor. His orders are to search and report back with message scroll when he discovers anything worth your time." Hesties nods with approval. Glad to be rid of the troublesome captain. Rictor was conscripted after a tavern brawl lead to a young man's death. The young Rictor loved the thrill of fighting and the military taught him well.

Even after 15 years of service he can't achieve more than company captain because he still tries to fight everyone who disagrees with him. Hot headed he may be, but the man gets results where others have failed. With a proven record I can't get rid of him. Definitely the best option.

"Send my regards to the officer who appointed Rictor to lead the search" Hesties replied with a dismissive wave. The scout captain stuttered for a second debating if he should tell the lord it was the captain who volunteered. Not knowing the politics involved he decided it was best to nod and move along.

Several days after that beautiful sky water fell I walked into what looked like a clearing of bright purple and blue flowers. Stopping at the tree line to scan the entire area for potential danger I take in the scene. It's massive… somewhere near the middle of the clearing, with flowers all over it, is a raised area with corners and straight lines. Approaching with caution at a new site I step into the clearing and freeze at the soft crunch under my foot.

Leaning down to check what I stepped on, I brush aside some purple flowers and find… a stick? But it's perfectly straight with a rounded end on one side… and three very old looking pointy grey and brown parts on the end. Trying to pull the stick out of the flowers just made the wood portion fall to pieces. Must be really old. With another step over, this time watching my foot placement, I begin my exploration of this odd clearing.

Around the center with all the straight lines and corners I find bits of really hard gray and brown things with odd shapes. Some had points while others had loops attached to more loops in a line that leads nowhere. With a shrug I drop what I assume is some form of my ivy braid. Taking a step up onto the oddly perfect plateau I see crumbly wood around the edges. Everything is absolutely covered in flowers. Like the wood was taking back its land from whoever made this.

In a corner I see a small pile of rotted wood and an oddly pale looking stick poking through the flowers covering it. Leaning close I see bones… not a lot of them. Just a few. Maybe just enough to make one person? Theres a bone in the shape of a head, two arms and a leg. Something probably ran off with the rest. Animals need food too I suppose. I squat and move the flowers around to see what I can learn from this scene. The crumbling wood surrounding this bone body looks like it just barely held whoever this was.

Bits of a softer cover still clung to the bones. Not knowing exactly what happened here I guess this person passed while in their home hole… but it's not a hole? Not knowing what my own bones look like I can't tell if this is my kin or another. The flowers are beautiful tho. I haven't seen them inside the wood yet so they must be new to the area and haven't spread beyond this clearing yet. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I stand up and pivot to leave when my foot catches an odd square lump in the floor and with a grunt I bounce my armored chest off the floor of this home hole. Climbing back up to my feet I find the small box that I tripped over and dust the flowers off it. This little thing fits in just one hand and is made entirely out of that grey material with spots of brown all over it. Looking closer I see a little latch on the side and with a flip of my claw it squeaks open. I tilt my head looking at… colorful rocks?

Two blue and one green. They look like they have a small glow inside the little box so I reach in and poke one of them. My outstretched finger tingles when it contacts the blue stone. Tingle? That feels a lot like the itch in my chest a while back. Curious. Deciding to keep the box I tie a loose ivy braid around it and strap it to the weave armor on my thigh. With one last look around I freeze. Noticing the mess I created during the fall. Everything looks so peaceful and serene in this persons final rest.

Except that spot I fell and trampled the flowers. With a heavy heart I walk to the flowers I fell on and lift one carefully. Wishing I had a way to mend this place of rest, I feel a trickle of something leave the center of my palm. The flower expands like it's being pressed back into shape. The broken petals slowly lose their wrinkles and come back together. The petals that came fully off stay fallen and do not improve.

Feeling something drain from my body I watch as this single flower comes back from being crushed. It's a slow process and it takes considerable concentration to keep pressing whatever is coming from deep in my chest. After what feels like forever I let go of the flower that now looks like I never fell in top of it. With a slight tremble to my hand and an exhausted huff, I find a lump of wood to sit on and gather my thoughts. All that work for one flower.

I wonder how long it will take me to fix the whole lot of them? I shrug to myself with a deep huff because.. well.. what else do I need to do? I disrupted this persons final hide hole with my carelessness. It's only fair that I take some care in repairing it. By the third day I was sick of staring at flowers. Most have recovered but a few seem too damaged to recover and have begun turning darker colors.

Accepting I did all I could to repair the damage my fall caused, I stood and looked across the clearing one final time. With some pride at the accomplishment and noticeable improvement on moving the pressure inside my body, I struck out in a random direction deciding to see if there are more signs of people nearby. Hopefully in better shape than this one. This time, as I travel through the wood I search for damaged plant life.

I guess that, if I improved over the last few days working on flowers, I could continue to improve and maybe one day a single flower won't exhaust me. Somewhere deep in the wood as I sit beside a fire, munching on a freshly cooked fuzzy tree critter, I have a thought. If I can repair plants with this force inside my chest, could I repair my armor the same way? Looking around I find a dangling piece of my ivy braid. It frays and breaks off from time to time during travels.

I focus on the tiny vine in my hand and think hard about growth. Pushing with the force in my chest and a clear goal in mind my eyes grow wide as a new leaf sprouts slowly from the vine in my hand that's slowly growing. It's terribly slow. But plants usually grow so slow you can't actually see the changes. The fact that I can see it actually growing means I'm doing something impressive. With a fresh idea I take two braided ends that I had tied together to join.

Untying them and awkwardly holding the broken ends of ivy up against each other, I focus on growth and repair. I push the chest pressure out from both hands this time and a solid idea of my goal. With a smile I watch the two ends join together and become one piece. With a HOOT HOOT I jump from my seated position and throw my hands in the air. This in turn launched my new project into the sky to fall down beside me as I cover my head with my hands to shield myself from the falling pieces of weave armor.

Another improvement project for my armor has my creative drive on fire. And I set to working on joining all the tied off bits of ivy into one stronger piece. That should make repairs easier and less common. And with the free time when I'm no longer repairing my armor every few days, I can practice growing and healing damaged plants on my path. What a beautiful skill. I smile to myself with pride. And continue working while I snack on roasted critter.