Hero – Chapter 2

As soon as he told her to just make her request, the first thing that the odd slime girl who stood in his sofa did was to take her hand to her belly and hold to it lightly. It took him a brief moment to understand the meaning behind that action, but when she finally opened her mouth and pointed towards it, he understood.
“Oh, are you hungry?” He asked and saw as she nodded cheerfully.

Nodding back in understanding, he asked for the girl to wait for a moment as he got something for her. Quickly moving around the kitchen in search for food, he noticed that what he had for immediate access wasn’t all that good to give his guest, so sighing loudly he quickly took out some utensils and started cooking something for her. It was fairly simple, a few pieces of chicken and a pre-made home-made sauce to go with it.

Satisfied with the taste, Johan stored the kitchen knife away with his magic and started preparing the table, setting up the plates and silverware while under the curious gaze of the blue girl, who would look at him with a mix of curiosity and disappointment.

Looking at her confused for a moment, Johan simply decided to call her to the table. She looked over with a conflicted gaze for a moment before looking at him as if worried. Confused by her reaction, he still saw as she hesitatingly got up from the couch and tried making her way to the table.

Although her movements were a bit sluggish, she seemed to be more at ease moving around than she was previously. Getting near the table, she looked over it while looking at the food that he was setting on a plate for her, then she turned towards him and tilted her head in confusion.

“It may not look like much, but I can guarantee the taste.” Johan said proudly while nodding satisfied, but all he received was a confused glance from the girl as if what he said didn’t make sense.  “… Erm… You do eat food, don’t you?” He asked dubiously while thinking for a moment that he actually didn’t know what she actually eats.

The girl widened her eyes for a moment, as if she finally understood what he was doing before shaking her head.

Johan let out a long sigh of dejection as he noticed how he had jumped to the conclusion a bit too fast, scratching his head, he looked sadly towards the food that he had prepared and shook his head. Well, when he stopped to think about it, what exactly would she eat?   Turning back towards the girl, he finally asked.

“So… You…. You said you were hungry, but you don’t eat food…” He said while looking dejected. The girl blinked a bit before looking lost. “So, what exactly do you eat?” He asked confused.

The girl blinked before stopping to think for a moment. Then, surprising him, she unbuttoned the overcoat she had, revealing her body beneath. Shocked with her sudden action, Johan didn’t have the chance to react before she quickly jumped forward and crossed her arms around his neck, pressing her whole body against him.

Receiving a heavy blow to his reasoning as the girl’s naked body pressed against his shirt. From the feeling alone he was reminded of how surprisingly gifted she was in that certain aspect of the feminine physiology despite her unique body.

Luckily, or unluckily, he quickly reminded himself of what he had asked previously about what she ate, and once the situation dawned on him he quickly widened his eyes in shock and worry. The moment he asked what she eats, she went and hugged him. It couldn’t mean that…

“W-Wait… Do-Don’t tell me y-you eat… People?” He asked.

He felt as the girl froze for a moment as the words dawned on her, finally she took her head back and started shaking it desperately in front of him while putting on an extremely fearful look. While he felt confused on her sudden desperation, he still heaved a long sigh of relief. Seeing him calm down, the girl also quieted again before hugging him tightly.

Feeling embarrassed by her sudden contact again, he still couldn’t help but notice her surprisingly cold body as she nestled against his chest.

To move his mind away from what he was thinking as he was almost sure he was missing something in this, he quickly cleared his throat, getting her attention as she looked upwards towards him.

“Erm… Is there any reason why you are hugging me?” She nodded briefly at his words. “…Is it something you need to do while… Erm… Eating?” She once again nodded as a small smile appeared in her face. “But… You aren’t going to eat me, are you?” She quickly shook her head once again. Johan nodded satisfied, finally understanding how difficult it is to talk with someone who can’t talk. “Then… What exactly are you eating?” he finally asked.
The girl blinked surprised for a moment then made an expression as if she was thinking on a way to answer to that. Finally, she brought her own liquid hand to her eye level and widened her eyes and smiled.

Letting go of him and opening some distance between the two of them, much to Johan’s relief, she took his hand onto her own and held them gently, sending a pleasurably cold feeling down his nerves.

Her hand was surprisingly firm, but at the same time had this strange squishiness that was alien to a normal human. Somehow he had the feeling that if he put on a bit more pressure, he would break through the surface of her body.

However, not long after his marvel ended as he was surprised. Feeling as her hand started to warm up, the girl smiled proudly while pointing towards her hand that now was at a normal body’s temperature.

Blinking confused and surprised, Johan felt as her hand quickly went back to its normal cold state and the girl once again hugged him.

“Wait… Heat?” He asked confused, but felt as the girl nodded cheerfully. “You eat heat?” She hesitated for a moment before nodding hesitatingly, as if stating that it wasn’t quite correct.

However, this was more than enough to leave the magician confused and shocked. This girl who had such an unique situation lived not by consuming sustenance like humans, but by eating heat? Still trying to understand the meaning of that and trying to relate the girl’s condition to what he had knowledge off, he became completely lost in thought, which the girl seemed to take as permission to hug him tightly.

He only came back to the present once he heard his own stomach grumbling. Blinking surprised, he looked down and saw as the girl looked at him in confusion and worry. Looking away, he quickly put on some distance between himself and the girl while saying.

“Well… I’ll… see something for you that we could use then I’ll get something to eat myself too.” He said with a wry smile. “Been patrolling the whole day over today.” The girl nodded as he tried to move away from her, but she earnestly kept clinging to him with a cheerful expression, leaving him unable to truly push her back.

Leaving the kitchen where the food awaited him, he made his way towards a smaller room back at the corner of his house. He initially thought about simply opening the gas and letting her eat the heat from the oven, but when he reminded himself of the price of gas, he ended up deciding on doing a more wallet-friendly method.

In the room were a bunch of shelves and box spread around in what many would consider a mess. With odd things like stones and wooden carvings to expensive looking jewels that shone in a mysterious light(which, in truth, only looked expensive, and didn’t cost more than ten bucks each).

If someone said that this place was a deposit of some kind of evil wizard, they’d be one quarter correct, because all of these items had some kind of magical properties to them. However, Johan was neither evil nor a wizard, so it wasn’t correct either.

Skimming around the room for the item he had in mind, he saw with the corner of his eyes as the girl looked around in wonder and excitement. Smiling wryly, he quickly approached one of the boxes and touched it lightly, a thin film of light appearing around it before disappearing in thin air.

After the defensive measure was dispelled, he took on what looked like a small necklace with a blue gem embed in it. Holding it tightly in his hand, he started pouring his magic into the gem as he turned towards the girl, only to find her hugging his arm while looking at the gem in wonder.

“Err… This gem here is capable of transforming magic into heat, so this might be useful to keeping you full.” He explained and saw as the girl widened her eyes excited. Giving a small smile due to her childish reaction, he started to wonder about this girl. A quick downwards look revealed that she had once again melted her feet into a single puddle, but nothing like a trail stood behind her. Although she still wore his over-coat, she didn’t have it buttoned, which left her body open for him to see, making for a bad stimulus for his reasoning. “Erm… Now that I think about it, you don’t have a name, do you?”

Although he had asked her as a second though, due to her having amnesia, much to his surprise the girl actually nodded cheerfully. Her unexpected reaction made him freeze for a moment as he digested her response before finally blinking.

“You do have a name?” He asked just to be sure and the girl nodded once again. Turning towards her, he blinked and stared at her for some time. “So, what’s it?” He asked curious. However, his mind failed for a moment, forgetting the fact that she couldn’t speak. The girl seemed to think the same seeing how she frowned slightly before putting a sad look. “Sorry… I forgot you can’t speak…” He said dejectedly. “Any chance you know how to write?”

For a moment, the girl froze completely, before putting her hand over her eyes and make a motion that reminded him of a sigh. Blinking surprised, he ended up smiling wryly as he understood what it meant.

Still carrying the stone in his hand as he charged it, he decided to go and look for a piece of paper and some pens she could use to write to him, however, before he even had the chance to leave the depot, the girl approached one of the walls and rested her finger against it, closing her eyes as if she focused.

Then, the liquid that made her body started to flow from her fingertip into the wall, forming a transversal line on it. As he stared in wonder, he saw as tendrils slowly spread from the main line upwards, taking on shapes as time went. The first one slowly curved itself into a P, the second one initially took on the shape of a K, but she quickly shook her head and changed it into an R, the third one formed a simple I while the last one she hesitated for a moment, before forming an A.

“Pria…?” He asked a bit dubious, but her cheerful nodding left it clear that he got it right. “Then, you are called Pria… Kind of odd…” He said while tilting his head. She didn’t seem to like his comment, because she pouted slightly. After a brief chuckle, he quickly became a bit more serious. “Then, Pria, do you remember anything from before?” He asked. She blinked confused for a moment, forming an interrogation mark on the wall. “I mean… Do you remember anything from before you became like this?” He said pointing to her body.

As if understanding his question, she widened her eyes for a moment before frowning and stopping to think. For a moment she tilted her head before looking at him with an expression that looked like she was conflicted, not knowing how to answer.

Johan took that as her not remembering anything, so he took on a long sigh while thinking to himself. For someone who have no memories whatsoever, he couldn’t help but notice how well she was when it came to controlling her own body, which led him to wonder for how long she had been in that state. Nodding to himself as he decided that he would help her, he became slightly surprised as the stone in his hand started scorching his hand.

“AGHHH!” He shouted in pain while starting to throw the weapon from one hand to the other. Looking at it, he noticed how it had become bright red, signal that it was overcharged with magic. “HOT! HOTHOTHOT! HOOOOOOT!” He started shouting as the stone jumped from one hand to the next.

While he was foolishly trying to keep a hold to the stone, Pria took a moment to understand what was happening, but once she did, she quickly advanced and grabbed the gem from his hand. Johan blinked in surprise and was about to take it back from her, but once he noticed that she wasn’t being hurt by the heat, he calmed down and simply looked at her as she held the necklace near her chest with small smile of satisfaction.

Sighing loudly, he quickly moved his attention to his red hands that were throbbing with pain. A quick search around the depot and he found a box where some green powder was separated in small coin-sized packages. Taking one of them and painfully opening it, he sprinkled the powder on his hand and let his magic do the work, feeling as the pain subsided.

As the powder dissolved itself with the magic, a light green glow stayed in his hand as his unskillful use of magic left some traces behind, leaving his hand with a slightly prickly feeling. Smiling awkwardly, he prepared to deal with it as usual, but caught sight of Pria as she stared at his hand in awe.

Raising his hand, he saw as she followed it with her look of amazement even as he moved around, much like a dog following a treat. Smiling awkwardly, he asked.
“Kind of pretty, right?” He asked her and saw as she nodded. “This is known as ‘restless mana’ by magicians. It’s raw magic power that have nowhere to go, so it sticks to things like this.” As he said, he noticed how she looked at it in amazement. “But it’s also really dangerous if a large amount gather, as it can infect nearby animals and transform them into monsters.” As soon as his words left his mouths, Pria became shocked as she stared at him. “Most magic-based monsters come from novice magicians who have no idea about thi…”

Before he could even finish his words, Pria had already jumped onto him, taking his hand and holding it tightly against her bountiful chest. Johan became shocked for a moment due to the sudden soft feeling, but before he had the chance to complain, he noticed how the glow in his hand slowly dissipated.

“… What?” He looked confused as he saw that the green glow had disappeared from his hands, no trace of magic remaining at all. “What happened? How did…” As he asked that, he finally turned his attention towards the slime girl, who had a relieved expression. “You… what did you…?” He asked confused, but she simply smiled at him and pointed at her mouth. “You… Ate magic?” He asked confused and she nodded.

…

After having his late dinner and not needing to endure the rumbling stomach any longer, Johan was washing the dishes with a pensive expression while trying to ignore the two soft feelings coming from his back.

Still trying to wrap his mind around on how Pria was capable of absorbing Restless mana, he remembered how she had even gone and said that it actually fed her too. Starting to feel curious and confused about what exactly this girl who refused to let go of his back was, he started to think on what he should do with her next.

An idea had popped up on his head for quite some time, but he felt a bit hesitant to use it for now, so he was considering other options. Sighing loudly, he turned his head back to Pria and asked.

“So… Isn’t it enough for now?” He asked in an almost pleading tone to the nude girl behind him. It seemed that the heat from the overcoat was all but gone, so she felt that there was no need to wear it anymore, as it also made it difficult to absorb his body heat. Even with the necklace still emanating heat within her body, yes, within, as in deep into her chest, she seemed unsatisfied for the moment, so she had been hugging him non-stop since they left the depot.

Shaking her head briefly while sporting her satisfied smile, Pria kept her face snuggling against his neck. She seemed to enjoy being in close contact, and unable to push her back and possibly take her smile away, he was only capable of trying to resist the temptation.

Strangely enough, he was quickly getting used to the feeling on his back, so they weren’t as troublesome as before.

After drying the last dish, he and Pria made their way towards his bedroom, where a fairly modern laptop stood besides the single bed. Sitting on the bed and seeing as Pria quickly took her place besides him, he finally decided that it would be a good idea to bring up that plan he had previously.

Logging on to the usual game with his secret account, he quickly checked his friend list, giving a brief look to see who was online. Finding the person he wanted on, he gave a satisfied smile while bringing up the chat.

To Deddie: [Yo, deddie.]

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From Deddie: [Lancer? What gives?]

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To Deddie: [Got a problem with my job, wanted to know if you could help]

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From Deddie: [Problem? With your job?]

From Deddie: [That job?]

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To Deddie: [Yup. Any chance we can meet today?]

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From Deddie: [Today? Kind of difficult…]

From Deddie: [What about After Tomorrow?]

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To Deddie: […]

To Deddie: [Guess it works.]

To Deddie: [Wanted to be earlier.]

To Deddie: [But I’ll make do]

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From Deddie: [Is it that bad?]

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To Deddie: [Kind of?]

To Deddie: [Not sure.]

To Deddie: [If it gets bad, I’ll call you.]

To Deddie: [Leaving now since I need to take care of a few things.]

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From Deddie: [What you mean not sure?]

From Deddie: [Oh… kay. Cya.]

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To Deddie: [Cya]

Closing the chat window and logging out from the game, he turned his attention back towards Pria, who had a strange annoyed look to her. Raising an eyebrow to her, he saw as she looked towards the screen then towards him with a pout, before looking away dejected.

“W-What?” He asked, but receiving no answer, he stopped to think for a moment. “Did you… find the game interesting?” He asked and she nodded weakly. “Well… Want me to put it to you?” She turned to him shyly for a moment with her eyes shining in excitement.

Smiling wrily, he quickly brought up the game again and plug a game pad in the usb port before putting in the character creation screen. Passing on the controller to Pria and quickly showing her how to hold it, he left it to her fool around with the menu and watch as she curiously read everything that appeared in screen slowly.

Leaving her with her newfound toy, Johan decided to take his time to gather his thoughts.

First, he had found her on the trash bin near a repair shop. If he stopped to think about it, there were some car batteries in there, so there was a chance that she was using that to feed herself, seeing how she could eat both heat and magic, it wouldn’t surprise him if she would be able to eat electricity too.

She also didn’t seem to have any other memories from her past besides her name, seeing what she had told him earlier. But considering the control she had of her body, even up to doing things that he considered near inhumans, like melting herself at will and reforming with just as much ease, it probably meant that she was in such a state for quite some time now. Her reaction to simple things like game and the couch also showed that she seemed alienated to basic things, which left him confused on what it could probably mean.

Deciding that simply laying around would lead nowhere, he quickly left the bed, leading to a look of worry from Pria, but after telling her that he was coming back soon, he left to the storeroom and got some other items from there.

Going back to his room with some items in hand, he quickly took out a chalk and quickly started scribbling something in the ground. Pria looked at him in confusion for a moment, but he quickly explained to her.

“I’m making a Ritual of Examination.” He said briefly. “It allows me to check some basic things like your state of being and so on. I just want to be sure that there’s no need to worry about leaving you like that.” He explained and saw as she nodded weakly. Johan took that as a sign that he could go on with the ritual and started to organize the ritual.

Setting up the ingredients within the circle, he made sure to recall in his mind where each item went and what was the amount of magic he should put in the ritual so that it wouldn’t overload or under-flow.

Resting his hand on the smaller circle beneath the main one, he slowly started to pour the remaining of his magic into it and saw as the circle shone brightly, the materials he used slowly dissolving into particle of lights and floating into the air above it, forming a small tornado of lights on the air above.

Pointing the magic towards the girl, the particles all turned towards her and started spinning around her, making Pria look at it in wonder, completely forgetting about the game for the moment.

Watching the particles with expectation, they slowly closed in their circle around Pria, making the girl  slowly extend her hand in wonder towards it, seeing if she could touch it. Johan smiled wryly while watching the girl amazement. However, his smile immediately became an expression of shock once her finger gently touched the first fragment of light.

The spark disappeared in her hand, with it pulling all the other fragments of light as they flew into her body, disappearing as she put on a pleased smile.

Blinking in surprise, Johan simply stared at her in confusion as he tried to understand what happened. Looking down at the ritual, he confirmed that the ingredients had been used, but looking towards the slime girl, he didn’t see anything that mentioned the continuation of the ritual. As he tried to think, only a single thing happened across his mind was: She ate the ritual.

It was one thing for him to know that she ate the restless mana, as there were a lot of methods to actually absorb it, and in fact, he was about to use one of those.

But in the four years since he first started practicing his magic, never had he heard of something actually absorbing a completed ritual. Even less doing it with so much ease.

While he stared at the girl in confusion, she became oblivious to his confusion, and simply focused back on the game while melting her hand and wrapping it around the controller so she could get a better grip on it.

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