wyvern

7:40 A.M. \ Cloudy

Outside a Kazimierz village

By the way, Vanilla, there's something I've been meaning to ask you.

What do you usually feed Kuro?

Kuro's not a picky eater. He's usually happy to eat whatever veggies or meat I give him.

If you keep feeding them, do they grow up?

Of course. When I first got Kuro, he was only as big as my palm, and now he's—Hm, why don't you come take a look yourself, Chard? He's really cute!

I heard that when Provence and Skyfire were out on a mission in Siesta, they came across a huge Originium slug—as big as a small mountain.

Apparently it ate some kind of rock called... obsidian to grow that big.

It's true that Originium slugs' body sizes can vary greatly depending on the environment they live in, but a small mountain?

If you fed Kuro some obsidian, maybe he'll grow that big too? It'd be really cool to take to the battlefield riding on him, don't you think?

Chard—Don't ever do that.

(Uhh... Vanilla's glaring at me!)

Oh, looks like we're here.

Let's see. The map's direction checks out. The village's name... Rockville. Yeah, this is the place.

What's going on? This looks like a normal village to me. Forget about mutant Originium slugs. I haven't seen so much as a single slug on our way here.

Though I guess most Columbian monster movies start out like this?

(Movie... Is that the kind of pictures that move in the screens?)

That's true... but Originium slugs are very common creatures, and we haven't even seen one on the way here. Doesn't that seem kind of strange?

What should we do now? Take a stroll around? Or wait for our contact to come get us?

Hold on... Is it just me or I smell something really nice?

This seems familiar... This fragrance...

Hops!

Now I remember! The mission handbook says this village's main product is beer.

We're allowed to bring back some souvenirs, right? Dr. Kal'tsit won't mind, will she?

Um, Chard, please focus on the mission at hand.

Before our departure, Instructor Dobermann reiterated several times that this is a very important mission.

Take a look at these reports.

My goodness... Originium slugs attacks are leaving villagers heavily wounded and their farms destroyed?

Some of the wounded have been transferred to Rhodes Island from a nearby hospital. They are all from the same village, and all of them were injured in an Originium slug attack.

Aside from patching the wounded up, the villagers also wanted us to take care of the Originium slug problem for them.

The hospital was worried that they'd be infected and sent them here. Thankfully, they're only hurt. None of them are infected.

But... unless they are under the control of Casters, wild Originium slugs don't normally attack humans, much less charge into human settlements.

There must be a reason for something like this to happen.

According to the villagers, it was an extraordinarily huge mutant Originium slug that attacked their village.

A mutant?!

We don't know anything more concrete than that, but we mustn't sit by idly when the villagers there are seeking our help, with no one else to turn to.

That's why I would like you to investigate this for us. Of course, you'll have other operators assisting you, but I'm leaving you in charge of all the decision-making during this mission.

But, Instructor Dobermann, are you sure you want me to take on a mission that has to do with Originium slugs?

Listen, Vanilla. This isn't a test. This is a serious problem that needs your knowledge and skills to solve. This is not the time to push your luck.

I trust that you will take care of this, Operator Vanilla.

Y-Yes!

(I never thought I'd get to take on a whole mission myself like Liskarm and Franka.)

(If Instructor Dobermann's willing to put her trust in me, then I can't let her down!)

(If I don't finish this mission, I'll definitely get my pay docked. Kuro and I will starve!)

That's why you need to treat this mission seriously, Chard. Don't get distracted until the mission is done!

R-Right...

(Why is she so serious all of a sudden?!)

Excuse me, but are you two the Rhodes Island employees?

Hello! You must be...

I am the chief of the village. I am the one who reached out to Rhodes Island.

*Sigh*... Finally...

Huh? Are we too late? But it doesn't look like anything happened around here—

Come with me...

My goodness!

You mean... this whole plantation was destroyed by Originium slugs?

It was about a month ago. One night, the villagers heard someone call for help from the plantation.

Everyone hurried over, only to find the nighttime guard lying on the ground, badly injured and on his last legs. The plantation was just as you see it now.

It took three whole days for him to come to.

From what he told us, that night, he heard noises out in the fields. He thought it was thieves and went closer to check it out, only to find about a dozen Originium slugs.

Hold on. Did he really make out how many slugs there were in such a dense forest at night?

According to him, the smallest of them was as tall as a person, while the largest was about the size of a small house.

Phew... Now that's really straight out of a monster movie.

Is it possible that his eyes were playing tricks on him, and they were some other kind of wild beast?

It's true that these bites are far bigger than what you'd expect from an Originium slug.

Vanilla... Have you seen slugs this big?

(Shakes head)

Right, no one believed him at first. A few of our young'uns then formed a search team and went to the hills behind the village to investigate.

We looked all over, and we finally got a clear view of it. It was really a giant Originium slug... The search team got ambushed too, and quite a few of them got seriously hurt.

We stopped going outside the village after that, but the slugs kept coming nonetheless. The villagers often find themselves attacked, too.

We tried asking the cities for help, but none of the nobles cared about a little village like ours. It wasn't until we took our wounded to Rhodes Island that we found out about this company.

*Sigh*... Thanks for your help.

Don't worry, sir, we'll do all we can to solve this problem.

If I may ask, did the village have any run-ins with Originium slugs before this?

Well, they'd pay us a visit once in a while, but usually it's just a couple of them chewing on the hops in the fields, and they'd run the moment they spotted us.

We never saw any slugs that big, much less ones that would attack humans.

So there's always been Originium slugs in this area, then...

The woods outside the village are pretty uneven terrain. Not even I know exactly what's going on in there.

Aside from that, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in the village lately?

What do you mean?

Like, have there been any strange visitors? Or a sudden change in climate? Please try to remember. All of this is very important.

If I have to say, the only brewery in the village went out of business three months ago. Some of the men were attacked by the slugs when they were delivering hops to other towns.

Any ideas?

(Shakes head)

Excuse me, sir, but could you take us to the other places where there have been sightings of Originium slugs?

Alright. Come with me.

Huh? What are those folks doing over there?

Why are there so many dead slugs on the ground?

Stop what you're doing!

Dad—

Chief, perfect timing. We found the culprit behind all this.

No wonder we couldn't catch them. All of the Originium slugs have been hiding here with this family.

Horrible. How could someone keep these monsters inside their home?

Did all of you kill these Originium slugs?

Chief, we all saw it. You have to make sure this guy's dealt with properly.

*cough* *cough*...

You killed all my Originium slugs. What more do you want?

What more do we want?!

Do you know how many people were hurt because your slugs bit them? They might even get infected! Let's not even mention our crops! You can't stay here anymore! We won't allow it! Your whole family's got to go!

People like you should die in the wilderness!