GLITCH

Encounter with a Corrupted Being

THE SLUMS, Port of Kirmish

13th day of December 2500

9:14 AM

"Hmm?"

"Huh? What is it, Sven?"

"Ah, no... It's my wooden mug. I dropped it."

"You better be careful with the utensils, or my sister won't tolerate it, even if it's made out of wood."

"Haha, yeah. I know that much."

Both of us chuckled upon talking about Rylai's wrath one would suffer when it comes to mishandling utensils. For one, she's quite a thrifty individual despite having many financial resources. All of her utensils are made out of wood, and won't tolerate anyone that's dropping glasses here and there.

She often said that she prefers to spend money on making tools.

That's her usual, alright.

But what is this uneasiness I'm feeling?

•••

DRYAD'S FOREST

9:21 AM

"They're way too many, sis! They kept on following us!"

"I know! But they're not hostile to us until recently, so let's go and see the source of life of this very forest we're in!"

We are heading towards the center of the forest where the supposed life source of this forest, the Dryad, lives. However, her underlings made our journey a bumpy ride.

"Watch out, sissy!"

"Whoa there. Thanks, Wenn."

A huge thorn appeared just in front of me, aiming for my neck. Thankfully, Wenn was able to detect that and cut it off before it reaches my vital spot.

Sorry, Wenn. I'm just too focused on looking at the Dryad's soul state.

It's becoming more and more unstable and it seems to be corrupted by something.

We're almost there.

As we reached the center, we found ourselves in an open area, and our sights were fixated on a giant flower bud at the center of it. It looks corroded with something orange in color.

Once again, why orange?

That color is supposed to bring brightness. But this orange I'm seeing has this sinister aura, enveloping the bud.

"In that bud is the Dryad."

"What should we do? We can't just cut it off. We can't do anything in this case."

"I know. But there's something common to this Dryad and the old you before."

"...manipulated, is it?"

I nodded.

I then remembered that one phrase of that diary.

"Me daughter loves oranges, and even loves coloring everything in orange. Me corrected her ways and she pouts whenever I do it. It's pretty cute..."

"Hey, Wenn."

"Yes?"

"It's possible that that lunatic you saw in the underground is the one responsible for this."

I know it's a hunch based on something unscientific.

But I wouldn't care nonetheless.

"Here she comes!"