>>6102559How many times per day do you find yourself questioning your life choices? It’s a higher number than you’ve ever used to, and that’s for certain. Might be due to the fact you’ve taken to spending time around extra-dimensional invaders in your free time, or maybe it’s because you’ve run away from home multiple times so that you have the chance to investigate conspirators and kill them. Nah, that’s probably not it; much more likely, it’s because you’ve run away from home to spend time with extra-dimensional killers, one of which just so happens to have taken the form of a pest monster. A blue vermin, most commonly known for getting into grain storage before some teenager is given a few coins to cull them.
Oh, let’s not forget the fact the area the slime is bringing you to can eloquently be described as “the bad part of town,” but that’s neither here nor there. It’s not like that part even matters anymore. Just in the past few weeks, you’ve been spending more time in the parts of cities you wouldn’t have even looked at with an uptilted nose before. Goddess, the rumors this would start if you were caught lurking around here last semester. You still get plenty of eyes on you since a slime is leading a group of three across the city, but you’re disguised, and no one seems to want to question the Inquisitor-looking fellow. A smart decision on their part.
“Come on, it’s right up ahead!” The slime says in its ever-chipper tune, “I can’t really see it without eyes, but Xiao-san says it’s really well put together for the area and has a sign that says Hickory!”
There’s not a single building in this area that you would describe as “put together,” but there is one with the remnants of a sign on it. However, instead of Hickory, you can only really make out the “ick” part and what an apt descriptor for the building that is. Dark, damp, and dingy, with no indicator of what it was before it was abandoned. A house? Inn? Pub? Storehouse? You’ve no idea, but the small hidden building on the edge of a seemingly forgotten road is where you’re led. You don’t even sigh, you weren’t even thinking a secret base could be anything else. You suppose you should count yourself lucky you weren’t asked to explore a septic tank instead. No doubt that’d be a place monsters would love to congregate.
“This neighborhood was quarantined during a small Living Rot epidemic two years ago. Never recovered after that, a good location if you want to disappear. How did you find out about it?” The new Inquisitor you’re with asks as he looks around the area. His gaze is calculating, and every word he says seems to have a meaning. Similar yet at the same time very different to Asher. At the very least, he’s much more silent during the interim moments of your journey. You’re not sure if that’s better.
