55 Finishing an errand (1/2)

Hera got up quickly, trying to wake herself up. After she ate under the cherry blossom, a lethargic feeling took over her making her want to take a nap. It wasn't an unusual feeling. She had that every time she would eat her grandma's cooking.

She walked around the tree a few times, shaking herself awake. It was a bad idea to sleep outside the village. What if she took too long to go back and has to fight the slimes again? That was the last thing she wanted right now.

Grabbing her things, Hera went back towards the village. She would take three hours or so to get back. If the slimes appeared at the same time, she would be cutting a bit close, but at least she had an idea of when it might happen.

She hurried back, looking for the markings she had made on the trees. It was better to improve her own skills, and who knows, maybe that will influence the way her [Mapping] grows. Yet, after she spent ten minutes without seeing any markings, Hera opened the map. She went too far left if she kept going in this direction she could reach the homestead, but not the water spring as she wanted.

”If I fix this, I might end up in the middle of the slimes again.”

Giving up on the idea of following her own tracks, Hera used the map to guide herself through the woods. She got so used to the repetitive patter that she could tell how many steps it would take before the pattern entered the next loop.

After a couple of hours, Hera was not only getting close to the village but to the new open area she had seen. It would be a big detour if she wanted to look for it. Right now, it was close to seven again. The slimes didn't appear until almost an hour later. She had the time to search for the area.

Hera kept looking at the trees, hoping to find one that seemed strong enough to hold her. The problem was that those were all linden trees. They were sturdy at the base, but at the top, they were extremely brittle. Even if she tried to climb one of those, she would only be able to reach half the height she wanted.

Looking at the map, the open area should be northwest of the village, or at least that what it seemed. Since the mission was to let Florence know of a good place, it was understandable that it wouldn't be a place far away from the village. However, that would only be true if it was a real scenario. In this test, Hera had no idea what could reasonable.

Maybe she could use the orchard as a way to finish her quest. After all, fruits come from flowers, and that place was really colorful. Still, it felt wrong to make a kid walk three hours just to get some flowers.

Hera picked her tablet to check the map.

”That's weird.”

According to it, she had passed the area she saw. Turning around, Hera went back to the path she took, paying close attention to her surroundings, looking for something different between the trees. She even stopped playing around with the rake. During the travel, she had gotten quite good at making it stand on her hand.

She had realized that it was useful to have something like that on her. After the test, she would search for a pocket staff or something to bring along when she enters the MAZE.

It was hard to focus on looking for something in this place. Hera knew she was moving and that things around her could be hidden. But after seeing the same scenery so many times, it felt like she already saw everything the area had to show.

”You know what, I still have five days, I'll deal with this tomorrow,” she said to herself.

Picking the tablet to look at the map, she noticed the time. It was almost 8 p.m. Quickly confirming the direction she needed to go, Hera sprinted towards the village.

”Crap, crap, crap,” she kept saying.

Since there was no dusk here, it was easy to lose track of time. That's precisely what happened to her. Hera didn't realize she had taken so long searching for the new area. A few moments after she started running, the night suddenly arrived. Just like the daw before, it was like someone had snuffed out the sun if there was a sun here, to begin with.

Hera kept running towards the village. Unsure of when the slimes would appear. When she finally saw the wooden houses, she let out a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, she failed to notice a blue slime swinging towards her.

The slime's tentacle hit Hera's neck, making her lose her footing and fall to the ground. She managed to roll forward and get up without losing too much of her speed. Looking back, Hera saw the slime approaching for another attack. She grabbed the rake and used it as a bat, sending the creature flying towards a tree. With a satisfied smile, Hera turned around and kept running towards the town.

She managed to arrive before the slimes, who kept moving in circles around the village. Hayden was still keeping guard near the entrance, but the hunter had yet to fire a single arrow.

”Thank you for the flowers, traveler. With that, I can just keep guard instead of killing the slimes. But we still need to find what is causing this behavior.”

The hunter thanked her in the usual mechanical tone.

”I'ts fline, I'll do i thwomorrows,” Hera said.

She didn't realize before, but her head was spinning, the words came out garbled, and the entire world seemed to be moving too quickly, or she was moving too slowly.

”You don't look good traveler,” Hayden said, approaching her, ”Oh, it seems a blue slime hit you. Be careful, they let out a poison that messes with your head. It's a good thing that the poison is not dangerous by itself. One good night of sleep is all you need to be back in shape.”

Hera tried to thank the hunter, but only an unrecognizable noise came out of her. She forced herself to walk towards the house she was staying, using the rake as a cane. None of the villagers tried to help her. They only stood there, waiting for her to interact with them. Hera knew that this was just a part of the test, it wasn't that they were ignoring her, but they just weren't able to do anything unless she talked to them. Still, that hurt. She imagined that no one would treat her like that after becoming an explorer, people would at least acknowledge her…

Suddenly, Hera woke up. She couldn't tell how she got inside the house, much less when she fell asleep. The memories she had about the previous night stopped right after she arrived at the village when Hayden said something about poison. Trying to gather her thoughts, Hera went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face. She still felt a bit woozy, but she couldn't find anything else wrong with her.