Sakura's group made it to a nearby house in the woods. The house wasn't that big and what surprised Sakura was the bad state the house was in. According to Walter, the house was supposed to be used as a resting place for travelers. These kinds of hoses were scattered around the forest for the convenience of merchants who visited the village in the dry seasons. Aside from that the hoses were mostly left empty and unmanaged. Sometimes the nearby villagers come here to maintain the house so it doesn't crumble down.
When Sakura reached the house it was already midnight. So she fell onto the bed as soon as reached the place. Although it was a very dusty bed with the smell of faint mud mixed in, she didn't care. She was mentally exhausted and fell asleep quickly.
She heard Astra's good night wish as she fell asleep.
-
-
-
-
Next morning,
*Poke *Poke!
Sakura was roused from her sleep by the sensation of someone prodding her cheek. Upon opening her eyes, she found a little girl gazing at her while continuing to prod her face.
"Woah!.. you're so pretty!" The girl couldn't help but exclaim, her fascination leading her to prod even more.
Sakura looked at the girl and smiled wryly. She was also glad to see the girl was, okay.
She quickly woke up from bed only to find Walter gone somewhere. So, she started to play with the two children that had just woken up.
However, she noticed a problem. Her body had grown a little older. It wasn't that much distinguishable but this still needed to be fixed. So, she made a mental note to solve this problem in the near future.
After placing the problem in the back of her mind she kept playing with the children.
Sakura also talked with the girl about what happened.
Apparently, the village was attacked by bandits and the villagers were taken away by the attackers. The little girl named Betty and the little toddler boy named Roan were coincidently in the attic of a house where they fortunately avoided being detected by the bandits.
However, before leaving, the bandits started a fire to burn the village.
Even though it was a terrible event and Betty lost her parents whose dead body they found during the escape, Betty wasn't sad.
According to Astra, Betty was too young to know what death and loss meant.
"Well, that's kinda twisted." Sakura looked at Betty happily playing with Roan. There was a curtain of gloominess on her face.
After that Sakura didn't ask anything to betty about the incident.
Sakura showed Betty various things ranging from lighters to video games. Their conversation quickly shifted towards how the game consoles work and such. Sakura just told Betty a bunch of things with Astra's help. Of course, sakura didn't understand any science.
The only thing Sakura understood about science is that science is complicated.
And sure enough, a five-year-old child-like Betty didn't understand it as well.
"Doping, Diodes, Rectifiers, Holes, bands…" The little five-year-old tried to rack her head around what Sakura said. But she was unable to comprehend even the meaning of these things, with her small head.
This conversation lasted until Roan interrupted it.
By pooping.
Surprisingly Betty didn't mind cleaning it up. Thought Sakura just straight up placed it in her inventory and then threw it away in the woods as fertilizer.
Betty was surprised to see this and asked Sakura about the poop-cleaning magic. To which Sakura didn't have any clear answer.
The only thing Sakura knew about the inventory was that … well it's an inventory.
'Astra, help…' Sakura turned to Astra for an explanation again. As an elder sister here, she didn't want to lose face here.
Astra started to explain and Sakura started reciting what Astra said.
"Cough, listen then Betty. You see, there is something called the 'Anti-Universe' that exists in this world. In that 'Anti-Universe' Exists 'Anti-particles. These 'Anti-Particles' are the blueprints of the real world. And if you can hide an "Anti-particle" " the particle corresponding to the anti-particle will disappear from existence." Sakura stopped at this point and looked at Betty.
Sure enough, Sakura could easily imagine a loading icon on the top of Betty's little head.
'Don't think too much, kid. Even I don't understand shit about this.' She said in her mind.
After that, a few sessions of questions and answers about poop cleaning magic, lasted until Walter came back.
Upon arrival, Walter told everyone to get ready, cause they were going down the mountain range.
Upon asking why, Walter said that their village wasn't the only one to be attacked. And so, he wanted to go to the town downstream and report this. He didn't specify many details as along with Sakura everyone here was a kid.
Noon soon came as Walter gave the kids fish and herbs to eat. Which in Sakuras' opinion wasn't so bad.
After lunch, they set off for the foot of the mountain. Unfortunately, Sakura had to walk as the basket was taken over by Betty and Roan.
And she honestly was having trouble walking in the forest terrain. There were times when she slipped and fell rolling down the mountain like a cannonball. There were also times when the green snake came flying towards her from above. Fortunately, Astra helped her avoid that one.
Sakura was so pitiful that Betty even asked Sakura to take the Basket while Betty walked. To which Sakura denied because of her big sister's pride.
Things looked very pitiful for Sakura until they reached the foot of the mountain where they found a river.
"Where now?" Sakura asked as she looked at Walter.
"We take the raft." Walter pointed towards the side of the river where a few rafts were kept aligned.
When Sakura saw the rafts she was so delighted that she wanted to cry.
'Finally, a fricking transport.'
"Are you alright though? " Sakura heard Walter's concerned voice.
She looked at Walter to find him with a clear concern on his face.
She then observed herself to find mud everywhere on her body. This happened when she rolled down the mountain.
"I really need a bath right now."