The Chronicles of Dwynveia – A Slimeling LitRPG

Lilyth - Now

Deirdee’s story was fascinating. It was good to learn I didn't fuck up her program too hard. Not to mention that it would have been awkward for her to be transported to this version of Dwynveia mid-performance.

Hell… if there was someone else standing there at the time, we would have a proper Fly situation here. Help meee…. Wait. No. It would have been closer to that scene from Undying Mercenaries when McGill teleported into that guy's pelvis. Now… that was an unpleasant way to go. Then again, one would hope that a goddess had better control over this stuff than a bunch of techies trying to figure out how to use stolen teleportation suits made for a different species without the proper access codes. Damn. I am going to miss those books. I would sell my soul again for access to my audiobook app. Like… I seriously did not consider how good we had it with stuff like Spotify or Storytel.

Still, it was nice to learn that at least one of us four OG lost souls managed to find some peace in this brutal world. Until we came and ruined it. For once though, I couldn't blame myself for something, because Taros and Deirdee coming here was all on Aki.

We spent the rest of the evening on small talk, though Caei quickly gathered her things and went over to Aki’s. Then, after Deirdee and Taros retired, they were exhausted after their journey, just as I was about to start going over the papers again. Ren decided to come by and talk since she was feeling somewhat lonely at night these past few days. Over the past weeks, I grew very fond of my conversations with her, so it wasn't all that bad.

I wish I had a friend like this back on Earth, I thought as I drifted off to sleep cuddled against her.

Ren

When I woke up, the bed next to me was empty. After looking around the room, I saw Lilyth sitting at the table, going through her notes.

‘Was I kicking this bad?’ I asked since both Caei sometimes complained about it.

Lilyth looked at me in surprise and shook her head.

‘Woke up early, so I decided to catch up on work.’

I rolled over to my stomach and started kicking my feet.

‘I thought you would be more of a cuddler,’ I sighed, disappointed.

Lilyth chuckled at that.

‘I guess I can take a short break. Or a long one, even. There are some odd patterns here and there, plus something bugging me that I can't quite put my finger on, but I don't think I can divine anything more from these.’

She seemed disappointed.

‘So… it was a waste of time?’ I asked.

‘Nah,’ she shook her head. ‘Like I said, I... we still found some interesting stuff. Nothing more interesting than you right now, though.’

I laughed at that.

‘Keep up the flattery, and maybe I’ll let you do some in-depth research on me.’

Before she could even respond to that, someone knocked on the door.

I wonder if Nyx would mind me strangling whoever this is.

‘Nah,’ the goddess laughed. ‘I believe the term is “justifiable homicide”.

Lilyth also looked incredibly nonplussed.

‘Who could it be at such an ungodly hour?’ she muttered.

I checked the interface. It wasn’t even eight in the morning.

What hour did Lilyth wake up exactly? Are her nightmares this bad?

I made a mental note to check with Caeileera about that.

In the meantime, the gummy fox walked up to the door and opened it. The unwanted guest turned out to be Taros in vaer lizard form.

‘I heard both of you were up, so I wanted to talk,’ vae said with a smile. ‘I hope I am not interrupting anything.’

I could tell by the angry swishing of her tail that Lilyth wanted to say something nasty. To my shock, I heard her take a deep breath and say:

‘What’s up, Taros?’

‘Can I come in? I have wanted to ask both of you for something.’

‘Sorry… I don’t do lizards,’ Lilyth said and moved to close the door.

Taros stopped her.

‘No… no… no! I am not here for that. It’s about the Murdergrove.’

‘You are not making me not want to slam the door in your face.’

‘Please!’ Taros pleaded. ‘This is important.’

‘You have thirty seconds,’ my gummy fox sighed. ‘Make them count.’

Taros scratched vaer chin, deeply in thought.

‘I want to go there and verify what you and Ren said. I can pay.’

‘Come on in,’ Lilyth said in a pained voice.

Lilyth

‘Once again, I apologise for the early visit,’ Taros said once we all sat down. ‘I hope you are not mad at me.’

I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered shipping Taros off to a Chinese handbag factory.

‘It’s fine,’ I said, doing my best to project an air of friendliness. ‘As you said… we were both awake.’

Ren grunted in agreement.

Maybe we can start a designer brand together.

Taros nodded and shifted back to vaer girl form.

‘So… to cut to the heart of the matter,’ vae began, ‘I have thought about the sensations you both reported in the Murdergrove and, since both of you are fairly new to your new… abilities, I want to go there to see them with my own eyes. Maybe, I’ll notice something you two didn't.’

Nothing bad. So far.

‘Why do you need both of us, though?’ Ren asked. ‘Either of us can lead you there.’

‘This is because… well… I don’t know what I will find there. So I am going to ask Aki and Caeileera to join us too. So… I have been authorised by my mom to offer you one skill point each if you lead me there.’

‘Ah,’ I said wryly. ‘The “just the tip” method of getting people to help you.’

Ren looked at me in confusion, but Taros simply smiled and nodded.

‘I’m glad we understand each other.’

I was on the verge of telling Taros to go fuck vaerself when an answer to some of my questions struck me like a lightning.

I have been going about this the wrong way - I applied inductive reasoning in a place where the abductive one would have been more appropriate. And the available evidence flat-out does not support the hypothesis.

You see, I have looked at all references to strange events happening in the Murdergrove through the lens of them being caused by magic, whereas had we not visited the place, I would have never chalked them up to being related to the pocket of quiet. The best I could tell, the legend of the disappearances dated back to a Dyaltov Pass-like incident that happened about three hundred years before, when a trio of Dan-Hemians disappeared in the area and remnants of a camp were found. That's it. Further cases of disappearances were very infrequent. Based on the village register, only seven people have since been unaccounted for. They were seen heading in the general direction of the Murdergrove and no further trace of them had ever been found. In five cases, I have also seen notes about people asking about them in Zel-Vyme coming back empty-handed, but that proved nothing in and of itself. This wasn’t twenty-first-century Earth. Going off-grid was ridiculously easy. There were also other possible explanations: bandits, monsters - based on what happened to this world’s version of Aki, there were River Goblins around, even plain old murder.

The weird killings Jirrin mentioned seemed completely unrelated to it. Those date back about a hundred and fifty years and honestly look like the work of a serial killer more than anything. Basically, over a period of three years, twelve people were killed - mostly travellers, though some locals were also among the victims. Then the killings ceased as suddenly as they began. Of course, it was possible that some victims weren't found, but no disappearances were reported for years before and after. It came as no surprise to me that since the streak, “only” three people were killed this way, which, once again, suggested copycats.

So there was my conundrum - Occam’s razor suggested that there were very mundane causes behind the legend, but our investigation in the forest completely contradicted that. We’ve seen clear, magical evidence of both phenomena despite them being seemingly completely unrelated. Like, if anything, it wouldn't surprise me if the hypothetical serial killer used the initial legend as cover. Same as the copycats.

Funnily enough, there was actual evidence of a “cycle” present here in Dan-Hem. The village was very small - its population never crossed two hundred, which meant that deaths weren't particularly common, usually falling within the range of between zero to two per year. Hell, there were periods where nobody died for five years or more. The only major exceptions to that rule were a plague that wiped out half the population some two hundred years before, the initial disappearances and the murder streak. Why is this important? Well… every thirty years or so, the death rate suddenly spiked. Instead of one or two people dying, five or six would. And before you ask - all the Murdergrove events AND Aki’s mom’s death happened during off-cycle years. So… if I were to point to there being evidence of magic… it would be this.

All of this meant that Taros had a point. I didn't like the idea of returning to the Murdergrove, but it was clear there was some fuckery going on there right now.

‘I’m in,’ I sighed. ‘Do bear in mind that if I even get a whiff of whatever you plan on doing, putting us in unnecessary danger, I am getting us out of there even if it involves burning the place down. So you know… in a way only you can prevent forest fires, gecko.’

Transcript of intercepted transmission ASC/Z5721733/01

X2-01: Command, this is Strike Team X2-01. Sakhrart RB-08-R in sight.

ASCCOM: Copy that, X2-01. L3 and L7 report no incoming traffic from Zel-Vyme or Ror-Bhyk. F4 noted increased magical activity in RB-08-R, but it is still within established mission parameters. You are clear to proceed.

X2-01: Roger that, command. Proceeding to the designated base camp area.

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