Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

It was a surprising thing to hear, Rummy had for habit of coming here often not only because it was somewhat isolated and very much peaceful, a conducting environment to do a wide range of things, from relaxing, to thinking, sleeping and such, but also due to the fact that she had also learned the local routine. People in this realm had visibly grown used to just all bathe on the same days, the end of the week to be exact, so on top of being a rather far and unknown warm pond, Rummy knew that during the rest of the week, the chances of anyone else coming to this place was basically null, especially since there weren't many beasts or good spots to commune with the sun around. And indeed, it was not a local who emerged from the trees whilst pulling away at a spiderweb they had just walked face-first into, but one of the talent holders, who took a few seconds before realising that the huntress was there. "Ah… Hello Miss Rummy…" it was one of the non-combatants of that lot. "Come on Spula, you can just call me Rummy, or Rumrum even! Wanna join in?" spinning around and sinking lower into the waters, the huntress assumed an inviting smile and waved one hand. "Mmh, yeah why not" surprisingly, the talent holder was not put off by the death hunter's most typical behaviour, surprising even the latter, a pleasant surprise though. Putting the basket filled with herbs and mushrooms carefully on the ground, it was clear that she had been doing some hunting for ingredients, Spula was probably one of the most delighted with this realm as she had gotten to experiment with countless new materials, expanding her alchemical knowledge. As an alchemist, Spula had been instrumental in coming up with new recipes to be used to treat the wounded as Minli had quickly ran out of reserves. "I am no expert on fungus or anything… But I think it's a bad sign when they are red, no?" commented Rummy, it seemed like even after so much time, that Spula was not running out of ideas and combinations to try out as she was most clearly harvesting everything she ran across, and considering how lush and vibrant everything was here, it was a lot of work. Especially if she did that everyday, as one might imagine. "Poisons are often used to make medicine, and even then, poisons and toxins are fun to play with too!" declared the talent holder, undoing her side ponytail allowing for a cascade of dark green hair to fall just beneath the girl's shoulders. Wearing a somewhat discoloured, greenish coat that reach nearly right down to the ankles, the alchemist did not even need to actually state what profession she worked in as a herbal smell clung around her body like a cloud, which was far from a displeasing odour, similar to freshly cut grass. "You know, with those toxic mushrooms, I managed to recreate laxatives, and a formula to cleanse one's bowels by inducing vomiting" Spula was very much proud of herself, and also excited as it was only the tip of the iceberg, nearly every time she went out to gather, a new sort of ingredient would show up. And that was only counting things like plants and mushrooms, alchemy could also make use of many other things, from flesh to rocks, and since everything was new to her, the possibilities were simply endless. As Spula explained this, she casually undressed and stepped into the heated pond, letting herself sink. "Phew, I think I forgot to take a bath in weeks…" the long green hair formed a wide part-circle around the talent holder. "I didn't even know there was one here, are you the only one that comes here?" "I am, but don't hesitate to come by as well, the more the merrier" flipping the dark lenses of her round glasses up, looking in direction of the guest. "So… What do you think of this realm?" asked Rummy after a few moments, she was not exactly familiar with Spula and right now, the huntress was doing nothing but stare a bit too intently. "Oh, magnificent! There are those small, yellow mushrooms, cooked with those goats that graze in the fields, it's just delicious-" 'She really loves mushrooms…' "And those small flowers, with the white petals and blue center, ground into paste and put into water, it really gives an extraordinary taste to anything you cook inside of it" "I did not realise alchemy was so closely-related to cooking…" "Ah Spula! Do you really have to leave me in the dust like that?" next from the woods came another talented holder, it was like they grew on trees. "Oh hey, sorry Hoffnu, I sort of forgot you were there and just moved like usual…" indeed, even if the new arrival was the talent holder in swordsmanship and was thus otherwise more powerful than Spula, navigating the woods and gathering stuff was not Hoffnu's specialty, at all. "Hello Miss Rummy…" noticing that her friend was not alone, and also that she had submerged herself for some reason, Hoffnu scratched her head. "No need to add 'miss' before my name, why don't you join us?" as quick as lightning, the death hunter lured another woman into the water with her. "Huh…" looking at the piles of clothes, she hesitated. "It's a bit weird, no?" "Not at all, people here bathe together all the time, they don't even separate the sexes, just dip in…" "Rummy is right, and besides we are all girls here" Since both of them were pushing back, Hoffnu sighed. "Turn around though" she said. 'Shame…' "Mmh… I don't think I'll ever get used to having to bathe out in the open like that, feels off" commented the swordswoman after going in, although very much enjoyable on the skin, the warm body of waters offered zero privacy, so little that it seemed the people of this realm had just gotten used to being stark naked around each other when it was bathing time. "Does your spine still hurt?" asked Spula. "Just when I sleep in a weird position now" Having gone terribly close to body paralysis when Loimos had struck her, even though Minli had done a great job of putting it back in place and healing all damage done, some pain had still lingered on long afterwards. Had Loimos been weakened just a little bit less, Hoffnu would have probably never walked again at best, or simply been killed on the spot at worst. "Ah, you youths have such resistant bodies…" spoke Rummy aloud, causing the latest addition to this trio to raise an eyebrow. "But… Are you not around the same age as us, M- I mean, Rummy? Like, I thought you were just a few years older than us at most" "Really? Well Maybe… How old are you, Hoffnu?" "I am-" she just stopped mid-sentence, her expression freezing for a few seconds, one could just see her eyes beginning to look into opposite directions as she was suddenly taken in the throes of deep thinking. "Wait…" "I don't remember how old I am" no one said anything as she began trying to count using her fingers. "Damn, I forgot my birthday for so many years…" Taking over the discussion, Spula answered in her friend's stead. "We are the same age, so twenty" "I felt like I was younger than that" "You just didn't notice the years passing, I mean, look at yourself and think back to what you looked like when you entered the academy, we all looked like little babies compared to now" "Indeed, and anyways, what I am looking at is clearly adult proportions" under Rummy's gaze, Hoffnu just sunk deeper into the water. "That's not a good metric to judge on… Some are just bigger than others, some don't even have any at all… No offence to the both of you…" "No offence taken, I prefer that since I saw you trying to make a sharp turn and colliding with a corner with them" Spula chuckled. "That really happened?" asked the huntress with a saucy smile. As the two of them discussed, Hoffnu just let herself sink deeper and deeper into the water, finding out that this particular hot pond was a bit deeper than the others, allowing for her to just sit at the bottom, legs held against the chest using her arms without anyone being prone to kicking her in the head. 'Rummy is weird… But this is a nice place, there is more privacy here…' possibly running into the death hunter was much less terrible than running into any member of male-kind when trying to take a bath, or in the reverse situation, wanting to take a bath and stumbling upon one already doing so, the swordswoman did not know which of the two options was worse, but both were definitely horrifying. Under the water, she smiled. 'How frivolous… My concerns are so mundane now' Without the threat of death constantly hovering in the air, life had indeed gotten peaceful. End Of Volume 3 : Of Death, Of Life Start Of Volume 4 : Enchanting Lull