“Well, this was easy. The monster had no protection outside of its covering. Now then. What should we do with its body? Since it is not the abyss, the body is unlikely to disappear for some time now.”
Aurora approached the body in front of her carefully. It was a rotten corpse but the monster was very valuable.
It had a lot of ingredients that could be harvested if the body was still freshly slain. And Aurora got to work as soon as she saw an opportunity.
“Here, use this scalp. I will help you out as soon as I am finished with the tail.”
Aurora was not the only one who had the idea of harvesting the body. Astoria’s eyes were shining at the discovery of rare ingredients in front of her.
Knowing how loyal Astoria was to her art of alchemy, it was no wonder that she had decided to start harvesting the corpse as well.
“Well Ur, looks like we are the outcasts here. Let’s have a look around in the meantime. I don’t think it’s a good idea to distribute these two anytime soon.”
Aurora ignored Rita’s sarcastic command. Just because Rita did not have any interest in this art does not mean she could interrupt Aurora’s work.
Rita took Aurora’s silence as a reason for her to leave. She gave a last look behind her but the other two were too busy in their own world to pay any attention to Rita.
Not that she minded. Aurora was passionate about harvesting this corpse so Rita did not want to disturb her. She knew that the harvesting ingredients were going to be sold later and added to the party’s fund.
Still, Rita did not like to see someone get opened this carefully. She had standards about killing things and making them unable to move around.
“Ur, is something wrong?”
The dragon gave a low growl, his reptilian eyes trained toward the rock a few steps away from the duo.
It did not take Rita long to figure out what was agitating Ur this much. The brown hair was very much visible to Rita even if the child tried to hide her presence.
“Ur, stay here. I just thought of a fun idea.”
The child looked too self-conscious. Now that she had been discovered, she didn’t even try coming out to greet Rita.
Instead, the child just hid away even deeper behind the rock.
Rita took the long road to approach the rock. Although it was going to take longer, Rita was practically invisible throughout the process.
By the time Rita approached the kid, the poor girl was peeking from behind the rock toward Rita’s previous position.
“She left? When did that lady leave? I need to ask her a favor. How do I find her again?”
The girl sounded agitated. Her desperate voice made Rita feel bad and she decided against scaring the kid.
After all, the only crime the kid had committed was to look at Rita. And that could hardly be called a crime at all in today’s day and age.
Besides, Rita was curious to know what a kid was doing in such a dangerous valley. These were not safe areas and even professionals avoided coming here.
“Hey kid, are you looking for me? You should have just come out and said that.”
Rita had intended to not scare the kid. But she failed anyway. The kid all but jumped into the air as soon as Rita’s voice spoke out from behind her.
The poor girl clutched her heart, her wide eyes looking at Rita and then back out the rock. She finally realized that Rita had not left the place, just changed her targeted location.
“I…ummm….I should leave now.”
The kid tried to move away but Rita blocked her way. It almost felt like bullying but Rita had a feeling that the kid needed her help.
No one came out in such a dangerous place and looked for dangerous people unless they were desperate. And Rita knew a thing or two about being desperate herself.
“Kid, you can ask for help. It’s not like I will kill you if you ask me a question.”
Rita tried to lighten the mood. The only kid Rita regularly dealt with was Damina and Natasha for a short while. And these two could hardly be called children.
Apart from them, Rita had a terrible track record when it came to children.
And it just so happens that this time added to that terrible record as well. As soon as the girl saw Rita’s face, her green eyes broke out into tears.
“I…sowwy. I don’t want to die.”
The kid was so scared that her words were mixing up with each other. Rita felt guilty for making the kid cry.
‘But it’s not even my fault. I did not say anything mean to the kid. Why did she end up crying like this?’
The more Rita tried to figure it out, the more confused she got. Was this how kids behaved nowadays? Sensitive and prone to fits of anger? It did not make sense to Rita.
“Please, calm down and listen to me. You are not in danger. I am offering to help you out. Now stop crying like this.”
The kid finally seemed to be calming down. Since Rita had not made any move on her until now, the kid was starting to feel safe.
But it all came crashing down as soon as Ur decided to make his appearance. The sharp claws combined with the inhuman body cause the kid to take one look at him and the waterworks began again.
“Ur, why did you have to come over? Hey, kid, no don’t cry again. Ur is harmless to you.”
It took Rita nearly fifteen minutes to calm the kid down after that and extract the story from her. Apparently, her family was into the smuggling business and had fallen sick nearby.
The lack of healers in this place was a big problem, as was the presence of these gigantic monsters.
Most monsters that appeared at these specific times of the day were much more dangerous than the general ones.
Normal people had no chance against them.
“So, your parents are trapped behind a wall of such monsters and you want us to get them out?”
“Yes, but we also need to be fast. My parents didn’t look so good when I left and it’s already been almost a day since I left them. I am worried about them.”
The kid sure was impressive. She had managed to survive out in the open for so long all alone. Most people won’t even last a few hours, much less a day.
“Well, if that’s the case then I should call my party over. This task would be over much sooner with more people around.”
The kid looked worried for a second before her eyes shined. The sudden bout of energy was new but not unexplained.
“You will get those amazing people who defeated that giant monster with you? Wow, that would be great. A human like you would hardly stand a chance against these monsters.”
The kid’s words reminded Rita why she did not like kids. They were insensitive and never thought about what they were saying. The kid was not wrong to say that Rita was currently the weakest link in their group.
‘But did she have to point it out? I can take out a dozen monsters even in my current form.’
Rita ranged inside as she gave a charming smile on the outside. She had to endure this for the sake of herself and her future. She could not let it show on her face that she was disturbed by the kid’s words.
“I’m sorry. Were my words insensitive? Mother says I should think before I speak.”
Rita had a few choice words for the kid but she swallowed her anger in the end and gave a small smile.
“No kid, everything is alright. You said your name was Mary? Don’t worry Mary, your family will be alright soon.”
Rita was not one to make empty promises and Mary’s trust-filled smile gave her the will needed to head back and explain the situation to Aurora and Astoria.
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