17 Forest

'Oh you're actually still he- he's sleeping?' Kuoka was asleep under a tree. He was still near the top of the hill, and had barely moved from that spot. 'I'll let him sleep.'

"My room is so messy. I'll just clean it up so it won't be so trashy for now."

"So many cans... so many ramen cups... do I even have a trash bag anywhere?" Shizuku rustled through her room until she found a large plastic bag. "Oh, this is perfect." She slowly picked up the rubbish in her room. "I'll start with the cans, then the cups, and then I should clean the floor around the computer." She stretched her arms in the air, and also stretched her legs.

"Time to start."

...

...

...

Kuoka rubbed his eyes as he opened them. He loudly yawned and stretched his arms in the air. "Good morning... what are you doing?" Kuoka could hear loud crumpling noises coming from his head. 'You're already awake? I'm just cleaning my room! It was really messy you know!"

She panted as she returned to her table. 'Good morning. Did anything happen while I was away?' Kuoka still firmly held onto his shoulder as he stood. "The only thing that happened was that I accidentally fell asleep for over a day."

'You must've been really tired, I'm pretty tired right now too... so I think I'll take a nap, then come back to you later. Bye.'

"I just woke up and you're already leaving? Hello?" He sighed, "she already went to bed..." He looked around at his surroundings, the area had already dried up and the air was warm. "I can finally relax..." His shoulder still stung of pain, but it was very little when compared to the pain he felt from it earlier.

"I'll probably be here for another few days..." he looked down at the forest. "What am I even thinking? I'm definitely not going in there until Regalia can tell me what to do."

"I'm still calling her Regalia? This country's name is already Regalia, but what do I care for copying that bastard's name? Oh wait, it might cause some unwanted issues... screw it, it's already a habit of mine now..." He felt his head itch, but his arms were already preoccupied, so he tried to scratch it against the tree. It didn't work.

"Tch, I'll just sit here and wait then." After waiting for an hour, Kuoka started getting hungry. "My bag should still have a bit of food... too bad I couldn't get more in the forest earlier..." he struggled to open his bag with one arm, and when he peeked inside there were only a few slices of bread and a piece of chicken meat that he'd gotten prior to entering the valley.

"This'll be enough for now. At least until she comes back." He carefully took out the bread one by one and placed them on his lap. "The rocks should probably be dry enough now." He placed the bread back into his bag, then stood.

He started walking around the hill, collecting rocks. He placed them in a circle, with dry wood in the center. He slowly picked up a stick with his injured arm and stuck it directly in the center of the sticks. He resisted the pain as he rapidly spun the stick in place.

He spun the stick until little particles of smoke started to rise in it. "Hah!" He continued spinning a little more, then bent lower to blow on it. A fire soon started. He panted and sat back beside the tree. He flinched as his shoulder was starting to hurt again.

"Ow... why did I even start a fire... oh right." He waited for the pain to temporarily subside before he went back to his bag.

After a while, the pain in his shoulder didn't subside, but it didn't feel as bad so he went to his bag. "The chicken meat... here it is." He grabbed the meat, then attached it to a stick to cook by the fire. He dug the stick deep into the ground, then returned to his bag. "The bread..." Kuoka brought the bread near the fire place and started eating a slice.

He soon ate all the bread he had, and the chicken finished cooking. "It's dry... but it's still edible I guess." He blew on the meat to cool it before he took a bite. His stomach grumbled when he smelt the chicken. "I know, you don't have to tell me." He took a small bite into the meat. "It's already cool? Perfect."

He started devouring the meat, and in an instant it disappeared.

"The meat was so dry, I'm not even hungry anymore... I need water." He looked around, but there were no ponds or rivers nearby. "Don't tell me..." he looked into the forest, and there it was. A pond in the center of it, with a beam of light shining down on it; like an indicator of. 'Here it is! Come here if you dare...'

Kuoka loudly sighed, "I really can't do anything without her, now can I?" He sighed again.

He felt bored, but there was absolutely nothing he could do other than stare at his surroundings. "Birds... birds... more bir- what is that?" He noticed a strange figure approaching the forest. "A traveler? No wait, it's most likely a refugee or something..." He thought he could ignore the person, but they seemed to notice him.

"Huh?!" The figure started approaching him.

"Hello! My name's Miyu, I'm fro- Ah!"

'A woman?'

"Rega- I mean... Shizu you're already awake?"

"My lord!" The woman bowed, "I'm from the 3rd army, how can I assist you?" She sweated frantically. "It's just some random woman calm down." She appeared confused. "My lord, who are you talking to?"

"Hm? Oh it's nothing. What was your name again? Miyu right?"

"Yes My lord! May I ask what you're doing here? Wait... didn't you say that you were going to the border yesterday?" Kuoka's face was suddenly riddled with shock. 'He's going to the border?!'

"Uh... yeah. I just got tired halfway, there's a very dangerous creature in this forest. Be careful."

"Actually... I don't remember sending you out here, may I ask what you're doing here?" Miyu's face was frantically sweating even harder, and her head started spinning. 'What is the lord doing here?!?!' She screamed in her head.

She put on a gentle smile and said. "The captain sent me here on reconnaissance mission!" She appeared to be relieved at her obvious lie, did she think that the lord wouldn't know something like this beforehand?

"Are you being dumb on purpose, or are you just dumb?"

"How rud- I'm sorry My lord! The journey has me fatigued and I sincerely apologise, but I cannot answer that question!" She crookedly saluted. "First of all, your form is wrong. Secondly, you're not wearing the military uniform for reconnaissance."

"You're not even wearing a uniform, just how dumb are you?" Miyu could slowly feel her lungs suffocating. "You're right! I am very dumb to have forgotten to wear my unifo-"

"You can stop talking already, you're making my head hurt alright? Just stop already, I know you're someone that's trying to escape this country, just go on ahead, I won't stop you. So stop bothering me already."

"Y-you will?" She had tears rolling down her face from joy. "Y-yes, so you can go now. Shoo"

"I'll never forget this My lord!"

"Stop calling me that, it feels weird. I'm not your lord, and I'm certainly not someone you should be crying in front of."

She wiped away her tears. "Did you say there was a dangerous monster in these woods?"

"Y-yeah, you can go through the forest safely for now, it won't be safe once it starts raining."

"Alright! Thank you sir! I'll be on my way now!"

"B-bye..." Kuoka stared at her as she quickly ran down the hill.