"Did… Did we get her?" I asked the party. We were all out of breath.
I slowly went towards the shriveled body of Mully. Her brown corpse was contorted in a way that would be impossible for something with bones.
When I finally got close enough, I nudged the body with my foot. I was ready to attack at a moment's notice, but this was unnecessary as she did not move. Mully is dead. I let out a sigh of relief as I gave a thumbs up to the party.
Tael gave a fistpump while Erana and Kany high-fived. Rena looked to the side dejectedly. I turned to watch the innocent people that had been kidnapped to see what would happen. Now that Mully is dead, it stands to reason that the people that had been controlled by her would be cured.
As if perfectly timed, I saw a seed like the one that fell out of me fall out of Gin's ear. He began to move of his own free will. The look of elation on his face said it all.
"I-I'm free! I'm free! I can't believe it!" He began to dance a jig. I looked over to the others that had been controlled as well. Like Gin, the seeds were falling out of their heads. I was happy to see everyone being freed, but there was a problem…
They weren't moving.
The various people that had been taken stood stock still. I waited for a moment before I decided that the people might need a push.
I walked up to a thin man and poked his shoulder. His body slowly moved in response to my action, but he didn't seem to take any control.
"Kenji, this is just how it's going to be. You and Gin over there got lucky. Everyone else, well…" Tael placed his hand on my right shoulder.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Well, if a mulaplix seed stays in you for too long, you basically lose all control of yourself."
"Is it… permanent?"
"It can be. Some people recover. We don't know exact numbers but for some people, they stay like this for the rest of their lives." Tael looked solemnly towards the emaciated civilians.
"That's… Awful."
"Well, we'll find out if they can heal in around a week's time. Until then, we can at least move them back to the village. Before we do that though… I think Rena wants to talk to you, stud." Tael pat me on the back as he pushed me towards her.
"Ah… Um… Hi!" Rena blushed and looked up to me. I grumbled in response. d.a.m.n it Tael! Couldn't you tell that I was manipulating her?
"Mully's dead." I declared. I don't want to go through any melodramatic moment so I just said whatever I could to break the mood.
"O-Oh…" Rena looked crestfallen as she shifted her gaze towards the brown corpse of Mully.
"I wouldn't feel too broken up about it. She was manipulating you. A real friend wouldn't do that."
"Oh, really? I um… never had friends that were my age so I wouldn't know…" Rena fidgeted in place.
"Yeah…" I scratched the back of my head. This is awkward and I really just want to leave.
"Well, I need to take care of stuff." I walked off. It felt as if Rena wanted to say something, but I don't really care to hear it.
I approached Erana and Kany. They had pulled Tael and Gin together to debrief each other.
"Okay. Well I guess we need to move everyone to the village…"
"How are we going to do that?" Kany slumped over as she asked this.
Erana cupped her chin in her hand as she looked upwards. I followed her example and began to ponder a method we could use to take everyone to the village.
"Well we could pick up people and move them one by one. It would take some time but it's a certain method." I proposed.
"But what about animals or monsters in the forest?" Tael asked.
"Well… We could protect people I guess. We would act as bodyguards."
"Well but what about the people that are here? They were protected by that Mully girl earlier, but now they're exposed to any creepy crawlies that want a snack." Kany reb.u.t.ted.
"Hm… What if we got villagers to help?" Tael proposed.
"That could work, Tael-san! There are certainly more people in the village that can help us!"
I looked around us to see if we had any objections, but it appears as if we all agreed.
"Alright… Who's going to town?" I asked. All three of them looked directly at me as if they were saying "you."
"S-should we play rock-paper-scissors…?"
No dice. They're electing me.
"F-Fine, Fine! I'll go!" I stamped the ground with my foot,
"Foo… Okay. I'll be there and back as fast as I can!" I shouted. I began to sprint into the forest towards Mulbik.
It took me around 10 minutes of sprinting to get to the village. I finally arrived at the inn that I was so familiar with. I burst through the door and stumbled up to the counter.
"H-Hey! We found them! We found the people!" I shouted. n.o.body was here, but knowing the innkeeper, he would definitely be nearby.
The side door opened immediately after I yelled. The innkeeper's son burst through and looked at me with wide eyes.
"Where are they?" He immediately asked. He was in his pyjamas and clutching a lantern in his right hand.
"They're in the forest. We need to gather the town. Rena's there too!" I ran towards the door.
"Got it!" He shouted. I ran out and went towards Yasri's place. When I finally arrived I slammed on her front door. It didn't take long for her to answer.
"K-Kenji-san? What you you want at this time of nyight?" She was shaking in what seemed to be fear, but I couldn't worry about that right now.
"Yasri-san, we found them! We found everyone that was missing. They're in the forest. I need you to gather everyone you can. We need to bring them back to the village. Meet me at the inn." I told her as I began to run off back towards the inn. Yasri didn't even have time to respond.
I waited impatiently at the inn for a few minutes. After some time, many farmers had arrived. They ranged from disgruntled to excited, but all of them looked nervous.
"Look, please trust me. We found everyone! They're in the forest in a clearing nearby. It took me ten minutes to sprint there, but it will probably take around 20 minutes to walk. Is everyone able to go right now?" I looked over the crowd. People were nodding their heads slowly in response.
"Okay, then let's go!" I shouted out as I began to head towards the forest.
The civilians followed after me as we slowly went into the forest. I did my best to keep everyone close together as we went towards the clearing. My estimate was right as it took us roughly around 20 minutes to arrive at the clearing.
"Holy h.e.l.l… it's Jim!" A farmer declared when we arrived. The people began to run towards their friends that had gone missing.
"Good G.o.d!" Another farmer exclaimed.
"Ah, everyone, we can't spend too much time reuniting here! We need everyone to take someone and head back to the village!" Erana shouted.
In unison, people began to hoist others up on their backs. It didn't take long before the entire group had begun to move.
"Alright people. Let's head home!" I announced.
The farmers began to march back into the forest towards Mulbik once more. Erana slowly approached me and poked my shoulder to indicate that she needed to whisper something to me.
"Kenji-san, while you were gone we did a head count… Someone's missing."
"d.a.m.n it… I thought this would be the case since we saw that the bear ate something, but I was holding out hope, you know?"
"It's truly awful…"
"Well, no matter what happens, we need to get these people home. I need you to come
with me. Don't look all dejected right now. We need to put on happy faces, okay?"
"Okay…"
I didn't like it at all, but right now we can't look troubled. We're the heroes, and heroes always smile when they get out of a tough spot.
Still… Someone isn't going to be going home tonight. I can't help but feel a bit defeated when I think about it.
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