Extermination

I turn my head toward the pack of ogres to show Cisca what is going on.

She looks at the screen unfazed and continues eating her cereal.

"Are you not seeing this?" I ask.

"What," she says, "the green monkeys?"

"Yeah, aren't they strange?"

"Kris, you got a dragon who can turn into a girl as a pet, and she was fighting lightning conjuring knights yesterday. Has your bar for strangeness not been raised above some monkeys?"

"That's… a good point, but look, they are eating a human," I say.

"I am a scientist, Kris. I see that all the time. Just shoot them or something."

"Have you not had your morning cup of coffee?"

"No, I have not. It just finished brewing, so excuse me while I go grab my cup. You take care of your situation," Cisca says. She stands up from her chair and walks out of frame with her bowl.

Well, I guess I have no other choice.

"Was Master talking to his friend on Earth?" Lohikaarmi asks.

"Yeah. She says I should just kill them."

"Does Master need help?"

I have never liked the sound of that question.

"No, I don't want any help. Stay here and watch the girl," I say.

"Yes, Master."

I creep around the bush to get closer to the ogres and press the button on the gun to power it up. I am around twenty meters away from them, and it looks like they are completely oblivious of my presence.

I raise my pistol in front of me and line up the closest ogre's head within my iron sight.

PEW!

With a pull of the trigger, an energy bullet penetrates the ogre's head. Blood shoots out of the other side and colors the ground red. Its instantly lifeless body goes limp and drops the human remains in its arms as it collapses into its own pool of blood and what looks to be brain matter.

The other ogres are alerted and snap their heads to their dead "friend". There is a moment of stillness as I assume they try to figure out what happened.

PEW!

Another one drops. This one was closer to the other three ogres, so they are now all partially covered in red.

They came to the realization that they might be under attack. The three of them frantically look around to see where the glowing projectiles might have come from.

PEW!

There are now two left. One of them howls into the forest while the other one leaps left and right. I have no idea what they are doing. I had expected them to start running, but neither of them are showing any sign of wanting to do that.

I pull the trigger twice more and the field is now rid of any life. Just to make sure, I look around for more threats, but the surroundings are back to peaceful silence now.

I stand up from behind the bush and walk into the clearing. Lohikaarmi follows me out of hiding.

"Master is a very swift killer," she says as she scans the dead ogres on the ground.

I have been called many things back on Earth, that was not one of them, but I don't mind it.

"Thanks," I say and put the pulse pistol back into my belt.

There is that same cloth coin pouch on the ground beside the severed torso of the knight. Oh well, he is not going to need it. I pick it up and empty out the contents into my own pouch.

The terrain beyond this clearing looks to be packed with thick shrubs. It doesn't look like the journey will get any easier from here. The morning haze is gone, at least.

Cisca returns into the frame with a steaming white cup. She sits down, takes a look, and asks, "Did I miss out on the action?"

"Yep," I say and show her the aftermath.

"Man, I was only gone for like ten seconds," she says, "Also, that is clean, Kris. Right through the heads."

"I had some training."

"I can tell."

"Oh yeah, Cisca, say hi to Lohikaarmi. I told her about Earth and you," I say and give Lohikaarmi a wave.

"You did? Then tell her I said hi."

"Cisca says hi," I say to Lohikaarmi, and she bows.

"Aww, she is so polite. When will you bring her back to Earth to meet me?"

"When you get over your caffeine addiction."

"You can't do that to me!" Cisca shouts into the camera.

Lohikaarmi tilts her head at my laugh.

"Shall we continue?" I ask Lohikaarmi.

"Yes, Master," she says.

I check the clearing one last time for anything that can be of use to me. After I have made sure there is nothing left, we break into the thick bushes.

It's a real pain walking through the shrubs with the stems restricting our movement. I can't see much ahead of me, either. At one point I considered asking Lohikaarmi to burn this entire place down, but no, we can't repeat our past mistakes, especially when we are given a fresh start.

Cisca pulls out a laptop from the drawer in her desk and opens it in front of her. She begins typing stuff into her laptop.

"What are you writing?" I ask.

"Just noting down the vegetation properties in Eden. Ignore me and carry on your jungle date with the dragon girl," she says and takes sip from her mug.

"Um… okay."

A long time has gone by of nothing but treading over bushes. I have completely gotten used to the lower gravity, to the point that I do not at all notice it anymore. The sun has passed its midpoint, and it's now beaming through the leaves from another direction.

Cisca had an even more uneventful time than me. She stared at her laptop the whole day and went to answer the door for delivered pizza, which she ate in front of the camera. It was from a store owned by Kaplan Corp. I doubt she knew that.

As for Lohikaarmi and me, we just each rationed a couple of pieces of the syrup candy. I didn't have the best appetite after witnessing the pack of ogres. Lohikaarmi hasn't spoken once, except for a brief "I thank Master" when I gave her the candy.

We have to be close to the village now. It has been a whole day.

Just when I am about to ask Lohikaarmi to take another fly around to see what our progress is, the bush right in front of us begins violently shaking.

Out of reflex, I stop and whip out the pulse pistol.

"What? What's happening?" Cisca looks away from her laptop and turns to the screen at the commotion.

I power up the pistol and hold my finger over the trigger while I stare at the rustling bush.

SKWEEE!