"Sorry about all the trouble Isla caused." Perry laughed awkwardly as they and Roko walked through the forest looking for Corissa.
"You didn't do anything wrong and Isla did tell us a lot about Varis we didn't know before." Roko nodded, "Although...the last time I scanned Varis was before I ever unlocked the analysis spell so maybe I could've figured that all out by myself if I just checked up on him."
"I see." Perry replied despite not being sure if they did in fact understand, "Well, I'm glad you all have taken good care of Varis after he left."
"Varis takes care of himself and Corissa and just lends a hand whenever he has free time which is most of the time." Roko replied, "He doesn't usually do anything until he has to."
"That sounds like him all right." Perry laughed, "Still, I'm glad to see he's doing well. I've heard some nasty rumors about Corissa over the years after all."
"They're all untrue." Roko sighed, "You've seen her well enough by now. The only dangerous thing about her is that Varis is always around and she can care a little TOO much."
"She does seem like a bleeding heart sort of person." Perry chuckled.
"That heart really doesn't stop bleeding." Roko sighed, cradling his head in one of his hands.
"Haha. Still, it seems Corissa can be quite athletic if we still can't find her." Perry noted, "Should we split up and look for her?"
"Sure." Roko shrugged, "Be careful of those monsters from earlier though."
"True. What if Corissa meets those monsters though?"
"Even under distress, I'm sure Corissa could handle it."
"I didn't know she was such a warrior."
"She's not. She just kinda has a cheat spell."
"What kind of cheat spell?"
"One that disintegrates all monsters around her."
"Was that what that was earlier?"
"Exactly."
"Very impressive."
"Yeah. Shame about the-"
"The bleeding heart, yeah."
After the two split up, Roko kept a wary eye around at the shadows for any further ambushes. These oil monsters were highly adaptive but they were actually a step down from the last time he saw them. Even ignoring Bedlam and that entire arc, the last time they ran into these monsters, a lone cultist was able to make them form into a motorcycle. And he didn't seem to have any grimoire or anything. The fact that these monsters haven't taken on any more complex forms implies that there might not be any human involvement this time. A novel experience if nothing else. This implies that these monsters operate both with and without humans and their cults but human involvement lets them utilize more complex abilities. The question is, if these monsters were intelligent, then why hasn't this ability spread to others? Alec was able to teach the tentacle maw ones to eat magic so the fact that no other race has demonstrated this ability suggests that all the different branches of monster don't share a single common consciousness. But if each race shared a unique consciousness like the one Roko brushed up against when he destroyed the tree in Momokami, why had these oil monsters not replicated their feats that they learned from humans? Do these oil ones not have such a hivemind...or are humans inherently needed for these sorts of abilities? Theses ones did seem to be more reliant on humans for their replication. Was there a reason for that?
Roko shook his head. His thoughts had stirred a few interesting ideas into view but nothing truly conclusive. Not that he thought he'd be able to figure out the nature of these creatures with recycled observations. No, he'd need some more hands...on…
Roko stopped when his foot stepped onto something soft and squishy. Looking down, he found he had stepped onto a squishy tentacle. A trait that he had known to associate with all these monsters as the start of their domain.
"...Well alrighty then."
Roko shifted his bag to the back where it adhered to the back of his belt and strap tightened to give him easier mobility. Reaching inside, he pulled out a pair of sais and gripped them in his hands as he lowered his posture and began to stealthily sneak into the domain of the eldritch.
There were less monsters than Roko expected for what should be their nest. Then again, even the very first nest that Roko stumbled into in the Paramnesia Wildwoods was quiet until something was disturbed. But that place was in a tomb where there were places to hide galore. This...was flat and empty. There were the occasional tree that broke out of the ground but not nearly enough to create enough of a shade for an ambush and those that were still around did not look like they were in the best of health. The area seemed suffocated for life, natural or otherwise but Roko kept digging. He kept walking deeper into their territory until he came across a large pillar. Not an enormous one like one that had grown in the catacombs of Cordis but a smaller pillar similar to the one in the Wildwoods tomb. And if this was like the Wildwoods, there would be a dead body being converted into monsters inside that pillar. Sticking his sais beneath one of the tentacles, he leveraged his weapons to pull it away from the rest of the pillar. It wasn't easy but he managed to make a small crack and wedge it open using the side spikes of his weapon. Once it was clear that it wasn't gonna snap shut, Roko pulled his bag to the side and rummaged around for a flashlight. Poking it and against the edge, Roko turned it on and was only mildly disturbed by the corpse inside. Not that it was a particularly appealing corpse, Roko had just grown numb to these findings at this point. Of note, the last times he was in a nest included two times in the tentacled maw types, one time with the melted flesh types, one time with the oil types and Roko supposed the Momokami tree had essentially turned the castle into a nest. Putting aside the tree type for a moment and the melted flesh nest in Cordis since he didn't exactly have the chance to observe that one for long, the remaining nests offered an interesting observation. Especially with the mawed ones since Roko was literally inside one of those in order to grab a grimoire. Both large and small variety of these pillars seemed keen on disintegrating the dead in order to spawn more of those monsters. The dead were a food source, which Roko had concluded a long time ago. The difference was when in comparison with Bedlam's cult's nest. That one had the characteristic tentacled decor but no tentacle pillar, at least as far as Roko had explored. Roko had assumed that was because they used women to incubate their monsters instead but now there was this pillar. This was DEFINITELY an oil type pillar because unlike the maw type pillars where the corpse was decayed, the corpse was literally melting into black oil. Not that this oil seemed especially alive at the moment but the conversion was seemingly immediate with this type of monsters. So the oil types DID consume the dead like the other types but they also used women hosts? This rather small contradiction was resolved by a small golden button on the suit of the corpse that Roko took careful measures to reach into and rip out.
The corpse in question was already too processed to tell who they were but the button gave enough of a hint. On it was engraved,
"Philomena Chuck. #1 Dad and Merchant."
Of course. These monsters used females as hosts and transformed male corpses into monsters the good old fashioned way. A rather obvious observation in hindsight but it was nice to have confirmation at least. And now that he knew this, this changed absolutely nothing. It was more information, sure, but it wasn't particularly mind blowing aside from the suggestion that these monsters truly weren't always tied to a cult or humans and did in fact have the ability to spontaneously appear like the rest of their kind. That said...there truly must not be any human intervention with this invasion. But more intriguing…
Roko turned and looked around. Despite disturbing this source of food and stealing an object from said food, there was still no disturbance. No oil monsters came out and even the oil dripping off the the corpse remained still. Were this the maw monsters, Roko would be besieged by now. The difference could only be explained by…
"They have a second nest." Roko muttered to himself.
These monsters preferred female hosts so perhaps they abandoned the corpse conversion method once they captured some women and started a new nest elsewhere? That was the only explanation that Roko could come up with. And like that, his minds returned to Corissa and he remembered he was supposed to be looking for her. Tucking the button into a pocket, Roko made a mental note of where this nest was anyway since they had to destroy this anyway later even if it was abandoned. That said, there was still a bit of unexplored area in this nest and once he confirmed there was no one else here nor was there any remaining hints, Roko ran back into the woods to find Corissa again.
It didn't take much longer for Roko to find Corissa, he spotted her crying on a log in the middle of nowhere. Taking a moment to consider what he'd have to say, Roko was about to approach her when another voice called out and Perry ran up to her.
"Hey!" they said with a friendly smile, "Been looking for you. Are you ready to return to the camp now?"
"S-Sorry." Corissa said, clearly still distraught from losing her match with Isla, "I'll...I'll come back...soon…"
Perry laughed softly as Corissa struggled to pull herself together. They knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder like she was some sort of kid,
"Look, Isla's not going to apologize so I'll do it instead for her. She can be a bit mean to other people upon meeting them but she's really a nice girl all things considered, okay? I'm not gonna ask you to get along with her, she's clearly going to make that as hard as possible for everybody. I'll try to make her play along a bit more nicely okay?"
"Mmhm…" Corissa nodded, still crying but at least she wasn't outright sobbing this time. Still, she didn't seem quite ready to move either.
"Are you still sad?"
"I just...I didn't want to force Varis to tell me anything he didn't want to tell me…"
"I know. Nobody's calling you a bad friend aside from Isla, okay? You were fairer and kinder than most of us when we first met him and no wonder given your history. But no matter what we or Isla know, you have to remember one true fact. Varis left of us of his own accord to join you. We worked with him, we know him but he ultimately CHOSE you. Okay?"
Corissa nodded again, the tears finally seeming to stop at the corner of her eyes now.
"Now come on. Let's head back before anyone not named Isla is worried, okay?"
Corissa nodded again and with Perry's help, she finally stood up and was guided away by the responsible knight. Roko watched quietly from afar, and decided to take a detour back to the camp.
"Hey Corissa! Welcome back!" Momo called cheerfully when Perry led her back to their camp like a lost child, "You feeling better?"
"Mhm." Corissa nodded, not sniffing but still a bit shaken.
"Can you make lunch now? We're starving."
"Oh! Okay." Corissa said, seeming to recover by locking into an activity she was used to.
"Of course the talking cow tits can cook." Isla said, rolling her eyes as she remained draped over Varis like a coat.
"Isla, be nice." Perry warned as Corissa jolted.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Isla replied, not listening at all, "Why don't you make more of that soup? What was it, cream soup with pulled pork? If you don't got pork you can use those fat cow-"
"Say cow tits again and I'll get you banned from Cordis." Roko sighed as he walked into the camp a little later.
"Why would I care about Cordis?" Isla frowned.
"Because that's where Corissa and Varis live."
"So?"
"And if you're banned from there, you will have no power to stop anything that goes on between them in their own homes."
Isla's eyes squinted as she caught onto what Roko was suggesting though she wasn't quite sure if she believed what he said exactly. Still it was enough for her to get off Varis when prompted by Roko.
"I need him to do me a favor anyway." Roko sighed as he dug into his pocket.
"Do what?" Momo asked curiously.
"Here."
Roko threw the badge he had snatched from the corpse over to Varis who turned it over in his hand.
"I took that off a corpse. In a pillar. You know the kind."
"You found their nest?!" Perry gasped.
"Not their main one." Roko shook his head, "It's devoid of monsters and hostages. Just a place where they first spawned using the dead as a fuel source. Still, it needs to be dealt with so I figured I'd let Varis handle it."
Varis nodded and stood up and began walking off.
"Over that way." Roko pointed off towards the left of the camp, "You'll know when you get there by the tentacles."
"They sure do love those kind of things." Helena nodded.
"Hey, why didn't you ask ME to do it?" Momo frowned, "I can destroy a nest right?"
"You certainly can. I just figured you'd want to be here for when Corissa finishes cooking."
"Curse you Roko for being so...reasonable and considerate." Momo smiled.
"I can't tell who loves Corissa more, Roko or Momo." Helena smirked.
"Momo only cares about her cooking." Kaguya chuckled.
"I cannot tell a lie. I do love her cooking." Momo said, hold a hand up in the air, "But Corissa is pretty cool too."
"And what do YOU like about Corissa, Roko?" Roland asked with a sneering smirk.
"Same reason as you." Roko replied shortly.
"Her fat cow tits?"
"Apparently not then."
"What did you expect me to say then?" Roland frowned.
"Nothing. I just decided to let you expose yourself."
"Expose what?"
"Nothing new I'm sure." Roko rolled his eyes.
"Your honor, as Roland's lawyer, I would like to point out that his statement could be taken as theoretical rather than personal." Helena raised her hand.
"Court acknowledges this point." Kaguya nodded, "Does the prosecution have a rebuttal?"
"Your honor, his following statement of 'What did you expect me to say then?' is indicative of two things. Firstly that he did not have any further observations regarding Corissa that could serve as a possible avenue of enjoyment and that he questions any other possible reasons for liking Corissa by placing them as something he would not expect himself to claim. This statement draws away from the possibility of an impersonal interpretation and squarely places the intention of his statement as wholly personal as one can presume from his usage of the word 'me'."
"Court acknowledges this interpretation." Kaguya smiled.
"Damn, should've told you to shut up earlier huh?" Helena said, elbowing her knight playfully.
"I thought I was gonna get to grill Roko this time." Roland muttered.
"Roland, why would you do that? You know that never ends well for you."
"How come you girls get to do it but I can't?!"
"Because we actually know Roko's weaknesses."
"I know them too! Look! Roko, what's your opinion on fat cow tits?!"
"I dunno, let's ask Isla."
"Keep me out of this whole skit you guys are on." Isla replied, giving Roko's entire group a weird look.
It wasn't long before Corissa finished with some simple coconut curry when the first fumes of smoke began drifting out from deep in the forest.
"Forest fire?" Momo suggested.
"Nah, just Varis cleaning out that nest I'm assuming." Roko replied, eating his curry without a care in the world, "I trust he's got the fire under control."
"He never loses control of his power, I've noticed." Perry remarked, "Also, this curry is delicious!"
"T-Thank you." Corissa nodded politely as she handed Isla a plate.
"Can't be that good." Isla said scornfully before taking a bite. She then remained quiet for a notably long time before her face turned to disappointment and she went off to sulkily eat on her own in a corner of the camp.
"Does she not like it?" Corissa asked worriedly.
"Corissa, we love you but you suck at reading people." Momo chuckled, "Also, seconds please!"
"Eh?! I haven't even finished serving everyone else yet!"
"Seconds here too!" Perry cheered.
"Eh?! O-Okay! Just give me a-"
"Aw screw it, seconds here too!"
"Roland?! U-Uh...wait just a moment."
"…"
"Isla, you want seconds too?" Perry asked teasingly.
"I'm thinking about it…" Isla mumbled.