It Can't Rain All the Time

Her voice is pleasant and oddly calm. I can say without a doubt, if I were in her place, I wouldn't be calm. Her auburn hair is caked with dirt and blood, but her moss green eyes show little sign of the trauma she just went through. All of her clothes were in tatters exposing a well-proportioned figure, and a trickle of blood on her thighs tells me I wasn't in time to prevent it. I hang my head. I know there wasn't anything I could have done, but I was hoping I had come in time.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have interfered if they were just killing someone. Not because I condone killing, but because I wouldn't have thought I could take on groups of monsters like that. If I hadn't seen red, I probably would have just harvested the souls after the fact. I feel a little guilty about that, and my head droops a little more.

"Hey, now. Don't be upset. It's not as bad as you think. I don't have any of that stinking green shit dripping out of me, so I'm counting it as a win. Most girls in my situation end up much worse off than I did. Dragged off to some dank cave and turned into some sort of breeding sow for those vile little bastards."

She stroked my feathers, which was an unusually pleasant experience. I tried to say something about the blood on her thighs, but it just came out as a forlorn caw. She looked down. "What? This? Don't think anything of it. I'm not some fair maiden, so it's not what you're thinking. I've been an adventurer for a few years now. Chastity stopped being a concern after my first life and death fight. The blood is probably from their friggin' claws trying to force my legs apart."

Did I actually make it in time? I'm not entirely convinced, but she seems to want me to believe that. Maybe she really does count it as a win. I guess I'll count it too. I shake myself to clear the foul mood, and she smiles a bit.

I notice she's gripping her ankle, which is looking a bit puffy, probably a sprain. She winces a bit and looks around and up to the sky. "Well, shit. I don't really want to be trekking around at night with a twisted ankle," she says, sighing. She looks back at me. "I don't suppose you know a place I can get a little shelter for the night?"

[Optional Quest initiated: A Stranger in Need: Help the injured human find shelter and get her back to town safely.]

[Reward: 100 EXP and a Carrion System Gacha Token]

Pfft. Well, who could say no to that? I look at her and nod.

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Really? Is it far?"

I shake my head and take off and land in a nearby tree.

She smiles and chuckles. "I don't think I'll fit."

I wish I could smile back. Instead, I start channeling my Plant Manipulation ability into the surrounding trees. The trees start to bend, twist, and grow closer together until they all merge. Any gaps are filled with branches and vines until a ten-foot interior diameter living hut is formed. All told it took more than ten minutes of channeling, which completely tapped me of Mana. I'll need to rest before I can really finish the job, and the front door is basically a poorly camouflaged woven mat of vines that lay across the opening from the above.

The woman is entirely dumbfounded and looks at me with an expression of awe. I bow repeatedly and spread my wings in my approximation of a curtain call. A sharp laugh cuts through the air. "Oh, heavens, I don't know which of you gods or goddesses sent me such a talented feathered savior, but I'll happily buy you a round the next time you're in town."

She pushes herself to her feet and grimacing hobbles over to the other human's body in the clearing. She pulls the cloak from his shoulders and a necklace off him. She holds the necklace up towards me. "Would you mind doing me one more favor? I'd like to collect the guild tokens from the other members of my party to bring them back to the guild so their families can get the compensation."

I caw out a yes and fly off towards the other corpses. When I arrive, I realize that they aren't a living organism any more, and I can grab the whole lot of them and stuff them into my storage, which I do. I also grab the dropped weapons on the ground. They are a butt load better than the improvised wood-tipped spears I've been using. While I'm there, I grab the goblin bodies too. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but they'll only attract predators if I leave them out here.

I get back to the other clearing, and the woman isn't outside, so I pop the two human bodies out for her to see and commence cleaning up the other goblin corpses and relocating the other human body. When I have enough Mana, I'll cover the humans. I also scavenge their souls before they go to waste. What? They aren't using them anymore, and I've already confirmed that I'm not taking their entire soul, just a small portion. I couldn't get them from the goblins, after all.

Speaking of the goblins, I notice they've been cut open in places I didn't stab them. It doesn't look like a rage thing either since the cut is too smooth and is closer to a dissection instead of a stabbing.

Since I'm still out of Mana, I tap my beak on the door to get her attention. The flap opens, and I fly in. "Welcome back. Were you able to find them?"

I nod and gesture towards the door. Her head tilts in curiosity, and she looks outside at the neat row of corpses, and the cleaned-up battlefield. She pulls her head back in. "You did all that?"

I nod in reply.

"You are really full of surprises. Are you sure you're not some angel in disguise?"

I've never seen a crow shrug myself, but it must be funny looking because she exploded with laughter. The thing is, I'm not exactly sure what form I'll eventually take, but if it matches the one from my dream, that was sort of like an angel. The wings were black, but I've never seen an angel before either. Maybe they have different color wings.

"I guess, for now, I'll assume you're one of Karasu's brood," she says with a smile. "I'll send her some thanks for sending you in my direction."

Her smile reforms as a slight frown. "One question, though, what did you do with the goblin bodies?"

Easy enough. I take one of the bodies out of storage and place it on the ground. This seems to shock her more than anything else. "Space magic as well?!"

She looked at me and shook her head. "My sweet little bird," she started with a sad look. "Do me a favor and never show anyone else your abilities. You are far too innocent. You don't know the bad things that people will do in order to take advantage of you. If you aren't more careful, you'll end up soul bound to some bastard. It's no better than slavery, but they'll try to sell it as some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement. Bollocks, I say. If you see the dead look in the eyes of some of those bound, you'd know different as well."

I'm not sure if I'm just naive or if she's cynical. Who am I kidding? It's me being naive. I've only just met her, I don't even know her name, and I'm just showing all my secrets. Well, not all, but only because she hasn't asked. Call it a remnant of my previous life. I was always open and trusting. I suppose I'll have to learn to keep my secrets better. It's easy when there aren't any people around to talk to, but I was always social before. Now? I'm not even human, but I still want to hold on to a little of the old me. In the end, I nod.

She sighed and knelt next to the corpse. "Before you put this one back, let me get its crystal."

Get what? She pulled a knife out and cut into the torso just below the sternum. I watched, grossed out, but curious as she used the knife to push the viscera aside until a small yellow crystal was exposed. She reaches her hand in, grabs the crystal, then uses a cloth to wipe off the excess sludge that passes as goblin blood. She holds it up for me to look at.

It's tiny about the size of a metal bottle cap folded in half, maybe a little smaller. I get a strange feeling as I look at it.

[Feral Crystal detected. Would you like to use Soul Scavenge?

[YES/NO

Well, huh? Yes.

[Used SOUL SCAVENGER. Gained 8 EXP. Gained 8 CARRION COINS.

The crystal turns to dust in her hand. Those things are worth bank.

"Wha-what happened? Where did the crystal go?"

I'm a bit excited at the potential windfall of coin and EXP. There were fifteen goblins, and she'd already taken out the crystals from the six in the clearing plus this one for seven done. I assume these are worth money, or she wouldn't bother with them. So, if we split them, I should get more than fifty coins and EXP.

Immediately I put that goblin away and take another one out and look at the woman. I need to figure out a way to get her name so I can stop thinking of her as 'the woman how was nearly violated by goblins.' She speaks English, or I assume it is English; maybe I should try writing in the dirt.

"I'm guessing these things are useful to you?"

I bob my head up and down rapidly.

She laughs. "Well, alright. You saved me from a fate worse than and leading to death. So, why don't you take all of them?"

She placed six small crystals on the ground in front of me, but I shook my head. I pushed three of them back to her. She smirked. "You realize, these are only worth a very little bit of coin to me. My life is worth significantly more to me than the paltry sum of coppers I'd get for each of these goblin crystals."

I just shrug. It still wouldn't feel right to me to take them all. Call it my naivety, but I just prefer sharing with people. I'm sure it is probably a terrible sin in this world, but I need this little bit of innocence to keep me grounded in a world where I can fly too high too soon.

She nods. "Alright, I'll fish the things out of them then. How many do you still have?"

I nodded at the one and then scratched the ground seven more times. She nods again. "Alright, trade them out as I finish and well get this done quickly. We did just that. About twenty minutes later, I was scavenging the last crystal.

There was plenty of light in the space thanks to a couple of holes I left at the top. Each had some overhangs above them to avoid an excess of rain coming in, but if she needed a fire we wouldn't die of smoke inhalation.

I caw to get her attention. I've meant to try this for a while. "What is it, my friend?"

I hope this works. I try writing my name in the dirt. M-O-R-G-A-N. Then I draw an arrow and stand in front of it. I look at her and caw. She frowns and has a look.

"Letters are a little odd, but I think I can make it out. 'Morgan.' Is that you?"

I caw and bob my head.

She smiles. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Morgan. I'm Cara."