Campfire Talk [1]

It was already late in the evening when Nemu and Trewy left the island. Unfortunately, they couldn't build another raft so Diablo had to bring them over the river. A rather unpleasant memory. The monsters in the sea were still there, Diablo said he would take care of them, but Nemu somehow convinced him to not kill them. He wasn't very successful in the beginning, but after mentioning Rimuru and that he would probably like it that way Diablo immediately agreed. It turned out that the tentacle monsters were cursed. All of them had a magical item on their body which made them very aggressive. Attacking everything that came close to them, even on the surface of the river. That must have been this Clayman guys doing. It took Diablo only minutes to destroy the items and let the monsters free. Although it wasn't their natural habitat in the river, because they were brought here, they would still be able to live here. And so, the river was a safe place again.

However, Nemu and Trewy both agreed that they won't return to the island. The experience in the castle wasn't very nice to them. Nemu was already used to hiding from monsters from before he arrived in Tempest. But Trewy never experienced a situation like that. The situation with the spiders was also scary in the beginning. However, she hadn't seen such a bloodlist and killing intent before. For an intelligent being to become totally crazy... Her sisters warned her that her journey can become dangerous and that there will be unpleasant situations, but she always shrugged this off. The world isn't always a nice place. So why not change it? Maybe she should make a list. She knew that she can't change the entire world, but what they did today... They saved 3 harpies and protected the forest from the demons. Well, actually it was Diablos doing, but without them the demons would be still there. There was a little proudness in her. She fulfilled her duty as a Dryad by protecting the forest and she will keep doing it. Changing the world might be too much, but making her Forest a better place was something she could do! But for now, she was just tired and exhausted.

"Let's take a break here." Nemu said, like he was reading Trewy thoughts. "Its already late." They both looked up in the sky. It was already near sunset. There were already red and orange lights shimmering on the calm river. Fortunately, they felt save now. So it was a good place to spent the rest of the day and watch the sunset. Something they both liked. The days before they were always in the forest and were only able to see the sun through the tight leaves and sticks.

"We could make a campfire." Trewy supposed. Something they had done before, they both didn't need a fire but for everyone who ever made one, they knew that only looking in the flames for a long time was a calming feeling. Actually, it was Nemus' idea in the first place. Dryads weren't used to fire and Trewy was pretty sure that most of her sisters wouldn't like it, but she always felt a little different from them and she enjoyed it. And so they started to collect dry wood from the nearby forest. Fortunately, Nemu had his fire stone back. Before they left the island, Nemu decided to go in it again and collect some of the stuff he had thrown on Corsar from his dimensional space. Dryads could do a lot of things in the forest, but making fire wasn't one of them.

Nemus Absorption skill was very helpful again. In his slime form, he wasn't able to carry large things. The problem here wasn't that they were too heavy but missing hands. However, by using his Absorption skill he could easily absorb an entire tree and drop it on the fire. But here, they didn't have to do that because there was more than enough dry wood on the ground. He even found two logs that were perfect to sit on. Like a bank. And so, it took them only a few minutes until the fire was burning. They even had a pile of wood near it so they wouldn't have to collect more. At first, Nemu had the idea to absorb it and spit it on the fire frequently but he didn't want Trewy to mock him everytime he does it.

Trewy had an ability. Dryads were able to grow anything in a very short amount of time and her body needed food sometimes. Not as many as most of the monsters in the Jura Forest as she also absorbed magicules. So instead of carrying food with her, she had a bag of seeds. Whenever she was hungry she put a seed on the ground and let it grow. Her sisters could easily grow an entire tree in seconds, but she was still too young for that. So for today, it should be a bush with blueberries! Nemu was looking at her when she put the seed on the ground. He had seen it before but was still fascinated by the Dryads magic. The seed turned into a sapling and later into a full grown bush. After a few minutes, blueberries were growing on it. First rather slow, but later there were berries all over the bush. Nemu had seen wild blueberry bushes before but the berries Trewy made were double the size of it. But not only the size, her berries looked like they were shining by reflecting the light of the sun. Definitely something Nemu wanted to try out.

After a while Trewy collected all the berries from the bush and sat down again. She started eating when Nemu asked a question she wasn't prepared for. "How is it to eat?"

Trewy was confused but she soon understood what he meant. He was a slime and slimes cant eat. To her knowledge, slimes were the only living beings that weren't able to eat. So she did not immediately answer but thought about it. How should she explain it? How should you explain something what seeing or hearing is if they never did it? She thought about explaining what different tastes are. Like sweet and sour. Unfortunately, she gave up on the question. Unable to answer. "I don't know how to explain it." She said.

Nemu was slightly disappointed. Learning to eat is on his list and he will definitely eat some day and actually, he expected the answer. Even scolded himself for the weird question.

"Do you eat only fruits?" He then asked. His curiosity was back and he wanted to find out more things about Dryads again.

"No, we also eat vegetables. And muffins! Treyni brought muffins from Tempest and I loved it. She also brought cake and it was really good! Sweet taste is the best! When I was in Tempest I really wanted to eat more of it, but we suddenly left so I didn't have the time." Her mood turned from excited to sad in a few seconds.

Before today, Nemu had cake with him. He never mentioned it because he didn't knew that Trewy liked it. But sadly, he threw it on Corsar and, well, now it was all over the stairs in the demon castle. Definitely something he shouldn't mention now, he decided. That would make her probably even more sad.

"What about meat?" Nemu asked.

"Ewww... Meat? Only monsters eat meat!" Trewy answered in disgust.

"Almost all people in Tempest eat meat. At least that's what I saw." Nemu answered, confused by her reaction.

"Wait... What? From what I saw Tempest didn't look like a barbaric tribe."

"Tempest isn't a barbaric tribe... Eating meat is pretty common everywhere in the world."

"I..." Trewy let out a sigh. "I have never left my grove since I had my first memory. So everything I know from the outside world was told me by my sisters. Actually, you are the only person I have ever talked to besides my sisters. Ah, and Kumo of course. After Treyni and I arrived in Tempest we immediately left, so I havent had the chance. But eating meat? Ew... I really thought that's something only monsters do."

Nemu never thought about this. He started his journey about a year ago so he had seen many things and probably knows a lot more about the world than Trewy. Wait... Is that finally something Nemu can make fun about? He was always looking for something since she laughed at him for his Absorption Skill and his failed tries to nod.

"Sooo..." He had something on his body that was close to a smirk. "I'm only two years old but know a lot more about the world than you!"

Trewy looked at him. Did it work? But contrary to Nemus expectations Trewy burst out in laughter. "Hahaha, you are only two? So you are a baby!"

Well, that was unexpected. "Hey, slimes mature way faster than other races!" It was true.

"Hahaha, Baby Slime!" She still laughed. Damn it...

"That's bullying! At least I spent a lot of time meeting other people and traveling!"

Trewy wiped a tear from her face that she had gotten from laughing. "Well, that's true. But I will catch up soon!"

"How old are you, anyways?" Nemu asked. He was quite surprised that he didn't ask before.

"That's... kinda complicated. Do you want the short or the long version?" She asked, probably already knowing the answer.

"Always the long version!"