A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 316: While I was Away

Chapter 316: While I was Away

(Traytora POV)

I don’t know how long it had been since I’d slept so peacefully, so quietly, so comfortably.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in my bedroom inside of the orphanage, tucked into bed, my sheets hugging me in a tight embrace yet softly encompassing entire body, from my neck all the way down to the tip of my tail.

It was so comfortable that I wanted to just stay in bed, but I knew I couldn’t, I at least had to get up and check on Asty and Ash.

...

’I literally can’t get out...’

My body refused to move, be it subconsciously or out of sheer exhaustion and just needing more rest. Either way, it refused to move to throw the covers off.

I could still move about of course, it’s just that my body instinctually refused to get out from under the sheets.

No matter what I did, my body remained under the sheets.

I didn’t know what the time was, but thankfully I had a clock in my room, so with a bit of struggle, I was able to turn over from my right side to my left to look at the time.

It was around five to ten. Whether that was in the morning or the evening, I had no way to tell. And again, my body refused to get out of bed.

’I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of bed until either someone comes in and forced me to get out... Somehow. Or until I get too hungry and am forced to get out.’

*Sigh*

"This sucks..." I mumbled under my breath.

Just as I was about to try going back to bed, still disgruntled that my own body was disobeying me, I heard a know at the door.

"Huh? Wha?" The moment I made noise there was a cluttering sound on the other side of the door before it clicked open and a ray of light burst into my room alongside David.

"Traytora! Oh thank the Gods you’re okay." He came rushing to my side the moment he opened the door.

"Hey..." I greeted with a weary and dreary expression.

"Hey. Woah, you do not look okay." He greeted back before addressing my current state.

I could clearly see his outline and his face, but for some reason, I felt like I wasn’t even looking at him. It was weird. I was looking in his direction, right at his face, but it felt like my eyes weren’t perceiving him at all.

"Hehe... I am so tired, even now." I just played it off as me still wanting to rest. But little did I know, that something else was happening. "By the way... What time is it?"

"Time? You have a-" David stopped himself when he realised what I meant. "Oh, you mean- Yeah, right, I got you. It’s evening right now. And you’ve been out for about two whole days since you saved Asty."

"Cool..." I didn’t really care about the answer to be honest, I just wanted to know. Nothing wrong with that is there?

Besides, I was just glad that everything had turned out alright in the end.

"Yeah... Anyways, Asty and Ash have been worried about you, though you’re probably not surprised about that are you?" David said as he got up to jump and sit on the bed, his tail swishing slightly along my covers as he talked.

Or rather began rambling on a bit, "Actually, there were a few people who came here looking for you, from the Adventurer’s Guild. Something about a Dungeon Purge I think they said?"

’Ah shit... I forgot about that. They must’ve taken care of that by now. Whatever... Why do I keep looking at David’s tail?’

"When they heard you were out, they said that they would wait a week for you, but you never came back by then. Don’t know why they wanted you in particular, but they went and cleared out the city’s Dungeon I hear."

’That’s good. Hopefully they managed to clear it out and get rid of that demon that was in control of it or whatever. So much happened so quickly over these past couple of weeks I can’t even remember what the issue down there even was anymore.’

"They suffered a few casualties, but overall, they were fine. They managed to fix whatever was wrong with it. Strangely enough, after that happened, was when Asty began to freeze over. Hehe... I can’t help but think these two things are connected."

’Yeah, that does seem like a bit too much of a coincidence. And if Ba’arhim was right about there being a demon down there, then maybe there’s some kind of larger conspiracy going on here.’

’First the Superior Succubus, then the Dungeon, and now Asty. Just how much more shit is going to happen here?’

"Traytora? You still listening?" David asked as he turned back to look at me with a worried gaze.

"Whuh? Oh, yeah..."

The Serpentar just smiled and got off the bed and said, "Alright, I can see that you’re still tired, so I won’t keep you up. Before I go though, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Mmm... Hungy..." I uttered sleepily as I began yawning, my mind drifting into unconsciousness.

Just before it did though, I heard David chuckle and assured me that he would help me with that.

"Haha! Alright, I’ll get you some food. But not tonight, it’s late and I doubt I’d be able to get anything from the dining hall for you, so you’ll have to wait until morning. Get some well-deserved rest in the meantime."

_

_

_

The next morning came quickly to me, only because when I regained consciousness, my stomach was rumbling in hunger.

I hadn’t eaten anything in days, so obviously I was hungry. But there was something else that was gnawing at me also. A desire for something different somehow, compared to what I normally ate.

I remember feeling this aching desire before the festival I think, and I’m still not entirely sure what it means or wants out of me.

But all of that disappeared the moment the door opened and all my friends came in. Not just Asty, Ash and David, but also Garrick and Ba’arhim, even Morrigan too.

All of them came in, and they each brought with them an entire platter of delicious dishes.

The smell of all the food was enough to make my body finally move as I sat upright in my bed, my mouth salivating and my stomach rumbling in hunger.

"My, someone’s hungry." Morrigan chuckled as she handed me a bowl of soup with some vegetables and some beef in. Was this soup or casserole?

"We’ve been unable to stop worrying about you for the past few days." Ash said wryly as she handed me a plate of cheese and crackers. Odd choice but I don’t mind.

"Yeah, I was wondering where you’ve been the past week or so. Don’t worry, we didn’t need your help, though it would’ve been nice having an extra pair of hands." Ba’arhim smiled widely as he handed me a plate with several different cuts of meat.

Everyone else handed me their own plates or bowls of food, to which I thanked them all for being so thoughtful and caring towards me, even though I felt like I didn’t quite deserve this treatment from them.

Stil, I accepted their offerings and ate it all at an astonishing pace, scarfing all of it down in about half an hour.

They all tried to get me to slow down and enjoy it, but I was hungry so I didn’t listen to them and just kept on indulging my own desires and gorged it all down my gullet.

*BUURP!*

"Oh, scuse me. That hit the spot though, thank you. Really, I mean that." I saw everyone’s lips curl up in satisfaction. "By the way, what exactly happened whilst I was away anyways? I know that you cleaned out the dungeon and all, but what exactly happened there?"

"Hehehe." Ba’arhim chuckled in a triumphant and elated manner

With a grin growing on his face, he began to speak, "I’ll tell you how it went, along with some other discoveries that happened whilst you were asleep. A secret organisation was discovered, basically a cult."

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" David shouted out as he slapped his own forehead.

"Seriously? How could you forget such a thing? It was so large that the entire city had to be locked down!" Garrick scolded demandingly.

"Well I was too busy taking care of Astryza to care about any of that!" David retorted in irritation.

As the two of them began arguing and raising their Voices, I started to laugh lightly with joy.

’I’m glad they’ve all become friends. It’s nice to have people who care about me and are here for me whenever I feel down. I hope I don’t ever lose this.’

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