Chapter 22

"What do you mean?" Otto asked Rhys, who was apologizing. Everyone had eventually woken up, getting around by the day without much trouble except that there was trouble. Rhys, who worked at a bank, had a one-way teleportation ticket to the destination that could help the group, but it had a limit. Everyone had to be in the same party to use it and Rhys was already a part of another party that had a strict rule on what party he could join.

Everyone had gone out to get changed into clothes the village gave to them for free, plus some extra materials for the long distance. They had all changed into slightly warmer clothes and shoes that weren't ruined by the slime's attack as the villagers hauled the bits and pieces of slime to calculate their worth. Some slime bits were similar to jelly, breaking apart on impact, but some remained stubbornly together, turning themselves into cleaning products. With a new backpack that Adrian offered to carry, the group set out to where they first met Rhys.

"I have to use the ticket to get back," Rhys explained, "Or you guys go, convince Olivia to release her curse on me, and I go back. Which is unlikely. If I go anywhere with this curse on me, I'll kind of be doomed to be unable to go back to Mormio, even if it's right in front of me. Olivia will have to eventually stop the curse, but by then I'd miss so many days of work it'd be hazardous. I can give you a map that tells you your current position, it doesn't work with me."

"So, you use the super convenient tool that will instantly take you where you need to go," Mei-wan said, "And we use a map." The map that was going to be used as an animated map that Rhys swore would work well, and he also promised them that he'd recognize them as 'safe' if they ever encountered trouble in Mormio.

"And Otto!" Rhys said, "By the sound of it, he has a mapping ability himself. That'll be useful if you use it with the map, not to mention the map likes a clear-headed person. Hates people like me. Also, my proof of safety is probably going to be the best you'll get."

"We'll take the map," Otto said, "You go where you need to go. I'm sure we'll manage, it's just a map after all." Rhys clasped his hands in thanks before taking out a small thin sheet of blank paper. It looked old with golden curled ends and folded marks. He handed it to Otto, who decided after the slime attack to keep his skill on, as it also served as a warning against surprise attacks.

"This is the map?" Otto held it up, almost looked too frail to hold, "Are you sure it works?" Rhys nodded and pointed to the map. A long thin line appeared, followed by a few more before writing slowly showed and little drawings of trees were drawn in. It didn't really look like the fully comprehensive map that Rhys boasted about. A small, irritated face came on as it glared at Otto, who was holding it. It eyed William, who was behind and Elizabeth, who was talking to Hai-rong. Mei-wan and Klaus were staring at it from a safe distance and Hiro was pacing around.

"I'm stuck with a bunch of losers again," It said, yawning as a small hole appeared in the page before it closed, "Better than the last guy, girls look kinda cute and the skills are half-decent I guess." She looked at Ater with a disapproving stare before suddenly sharpening the edges of her paper to cut Otto's fingers.

"Ow!" He dropped the map on the ground and it landed on the mud. He bent down to pick it up, the mud smudging it a little bit, the paper cut him again and he dropped it. Two small thin lines on his hand appeared as a little dribble of blood stared up at him.

"I'll pick it up," Hai-rong replied, "It doesn't seem to like you." Hai-rong tried to pick it up, only for the map to cut her instead. She withdrew her hand quickly and headed back to Mei-wan.

"It doesn't seem to like you either," Otto concluded.

"I'll only be carried by her!" The map drew an arrow on its back, pointing towards Elizabeth, "That girl is the only one who can touch me!" Elizabeth shook her head.

"I'm not carrying that," She crossed her arms as everyone looked at her expectantly, "I am not going to carry a talking map. It'll cut me."

"Milly Mills, it's already said it wants you," William pushed her forward, "Just… take the stupid map and let's go." Elizabeth walked forward with hesitance as she slowly picked up the map. It was slightly wetter now, and there were several streaks of mud on it. There was a strange sort of glow and suddenly the map was dry, clean, and filled to brim with markings, drawings, and writing.

"That's better," The map said, scaring Elizabeth, "Much better. Nice hands. I'm Ms. Lost. Now, you want to go to Mormio? That's a long way, but I know a shortcut. A bit dangerous, but pretty useful when it comes to avoiding the region of Lykke. Not any more dangerous than it is to avoid those cliffs."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth started, glaring at William as he snickered, "But, your name is Ms. Lost? As in L-O-S-T, lost?" The map drew a small checkmark on the side before there was a small, fancy piece of writing on it.

"I know, I'm a map called Ms. Lost," Ms. Lost said, "It's because if I don't like you enough, I might make you get lost. I won't make you get lost, you're okay, like that skill of yours. I knew the lady who made it, a really nice girl. Dirt poor, but really nice…" The map continued off, talking with an occasional 'mhm' from Elizabeth. A small thin dotted line appeared on the map, showing them where they need to go.

Elizabeth held the map cautiously before turning to everyone behind her who gave her some kind of a weak thumbs up. She huffed and started walking in a strange direction. It seemed to twist off into circles and circles, twirling around into deeper caverns, but for now, as they were walking, the land was flat.

"… so, like Andrea, I'm quite sure her name was Andrea, was going around asking about this person so I told her that she should just go pickpocket everyone's wallet and find out who they're in contact with, cause that was a thing back then y'know?" Ms. Lost rambled, "Anyway, you wanted to know about Mormio."

Rapt attention fell on the map as it suddenly spurred out of its nonsensical chatting about her previous friends or users. The map drew a miffed face on the map, displaying that it knew no one was listening to her. Ms. Lost drew several 'x's on herself.

"You see those marks?" Elizabeth nodded, "Those marks will display monsters in real-time. Now, I don't what kind of monster it is, but it can range from slime to a Langsam Slime. So, you're warned."

"Can't you tell us where we're going?" Klaus piped up in the back, "I don't know anything about the terrain." The map ignored Klaus, as it continued on with a monotone description of its enemies, groaning when it talked about losses, laughing as it talked about winnings. Everyone woke up to a poor morning and they slowly walked through the region.

The region was filled with grasslands, with some trees and some flowering plants. Otto didn't seem to be bothered by anything, so everyone was somewhat relieved, if not for the strange and probably unreliable map that they were given. They didn't know if they were heading to Mormio, but to Elizabeth, it appeared they were going in the opposite direction. Otto picked up a flower, twisting its stem, and with a snap, it broke.

"What are you doing, Bettering?" Klaus asked, bored out of his mind, "They're all just plants and grass." Otto looked back at him and chewed on the flower, eyes brightening. They tasted like apples, sweet, but not too sweet. He picked another one, it tasted like blueberries, a little sour, but still sweet overall.

"Otto, spill," William said as Otto passed one to Ade, who took it and chewed, "Otto, please tell us what's in the flowers."

"They taste–" Otto swallowed the flower, "–like fruits." He took another one a chewed on it. When he had looked around the terrain there had been several notifications of the surrounding flora and fauna but the only one that had appeared to be useful was the small white flowers on the ground that didn't smell that great.

"Really?" William used his skill to look at the flowers, trying to find the one that Otto was talking about.

[Odoratus Flower – In some regions, they may taste like fruits, in some, vegetables. They have no nutritional value other than to add flavour to other foods]

"What?" Mei-wan walked over. She and Hai-rong had wandered a little, never straying too far, but had come back once seeing the commotion as Otto handed a flower to a reluctant Klaus. Adrian picked one for himself and Hiro, who was just as silent as before. Even as the morning came, he still looked as ruffled and tired as before. Ater was simply wandering, not paying mind to anyone as he shuffled through plants, trying to look for something.

"Ooh~" Ms. Lost started, "I see two of your friends are appraisers. Keep them, appraisers are rare enough, not to mention useful. An okay appraiser can tell what something is, a great one can tell you everything there is to know about anything." Elizabeth nodded before William marched up to her to stuff something into her mouth.

"It tastes like fruit," He said, "Chew it, Milly Mills." Elizabeth chewed on the small white flower. Little buttons of pineapple and pear pricked her tongue as they chewed through the plant. She blinked and saw that William had a small handful before she took the map carefully with one hand before grabbing some from an undefended William.

"Hey!"

"I hate pineapple," She said as strawberry burst into her mouth, "But yeah, it's good." She continued to chew through the plant until there was nothing left. The map laughed and continued on with her strange behaviour, talking over and over again about things that have happened in the past.

"Hey, Hiro," Otto said as he noticed Hiro walking around, slowly following Elizabeth, "Try it." Hiro took the small flower, and following Otto's movements, he chewed on the flower.

[What is it?] He asked, "Ot-to?"

"Err," Otto paused, before shrugging and he patted Hiro on the shoulder, "Food?"

[I don't know what you mean,] Hiro said, mouth drooping.

"Um," Otto started, "Fo-od."

[Fudo?] Hiro said, [I get it.]

"Great."

[It's good.]

Otto walked off, worried that Hiro didn't understand. Everyone was sort of tagging along, just walking, following, jogging in Elizabeth's general direction, making sure to never stray too far. There were a couple monsters, but they didn't seem as much of a threat to Otto, so he didn't treat them as so.

There were was a small shimmer in the air as Otto walked past Ater, who did seem to be actively looking for something, checking left and right. There was another, and another. They were incredibly small changes in the texture of the air, from being a little dry to moist. Suddenly, there was something that looked like a curtain and Elizabeth stopped.

Now everyone could see it, the billowing air that looked like sheets. There was a split down the middle as a small opening to what looked like a thick forest showed. Beyond the sheet was the same terrain. Ms. Lost had stopped talking and became a big 'X' where the sheet was.

"So, what do we do here?" Mei-wan asked, "And why is air like that?" Otto and William both checked the small rift over.

[Periit – A forest that is hidden from people's eyes, masked by the glass curtain]

"It's a glass curtain," William said, "Looked more like a sheet." Klaus walked up to the two sides and pulled the edge on one.