Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 57: Let's grind! (5)

"How'd you know about the past? Have you met humans from before monsters popped up!?" I quickly swallowed my food and grabbed the sleeve of his robe to stop him from going away before answering my question.

"Huh? Of course. I don't think they recognize me, though," he answered, "go take a bath, I'll clean up the campfire."

"What do you mean? Explain it to me like how you would explain to a 5-year-old." I pouted.

"Did you hit your head? Or do you seriously have no idea where monsters came from?" He paused and raised an eyebrow towards me.

"How would I know? I'm the most clueless person in this whole town." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Hmm..." He stared at my face for a while, "then it's probably better for you not to know."

"What the hell is that reasoning?" I kicked his leg in frustration.

"I'm serious. I thought since you're not exactly human, you'd have an idea. But if you don't, then just stay in the dark until you figure out where you wanna stand." He stood in front of me while his tall and broad figure cast a shadow over my smaller one.

I looked up and my dark brown eyes met his bright yellow ones. The sunlight made them glimmer like gold ores, creating a beautiful sight despite his stern expression. His eyebrows made a little frown, but not enough for him to look pissed.

"I stand by myself." I answered with no hesitation. Right now, I belonged to nobody and I pledged no alliance to whomever. I was a soldier, my nation's property. But right now, I didn't want to be shackled anymore.

"Do you even know who you are? I'm a monster, a special one at that. And yet, even I don't know what you are. You are neither a monster nor a human, and yet you act like a human." He took a step closer, lessening the distance between us.

"Bro, like I said before, I'm a human... I'm just not from this era." I sighed.

"Hmm, is there a human from another world? I'm not sure if you're a human or not, kid. But I know for sure that you're not from this world, much less this era."

I was about to retort, but then I swallowed back my words. I was so sure that I was a human, but what really constituted a 'human'? Living, breathing, reproducing mammal with high intelligence? DNA? What if there were creatures from another world that looked and behaved exactly like humans? Oh my god, what if I was an impostor?

No no no, Chae. You watched too many sci-fi movies. Get that idea out of your head. This place was a fantasy magic world, not some sci-fi alien world.

"Now hurry and take a bath. I'll watch the area." He put his hands on my shoulder and spun me around until I was facing the other way, and nudged me to go.

"Bath? Where?" I asked.

"Just follow the ducks. They showed me their lake earlier," he shrugged and walked away, "don't worry kid, I won't peek."

"Hey!"

'Quack!' The ducks suddenly came flopping towards me, as if they knew what we were talking about.

"Ugh... If you peek, you're gonna lose those golden shiny eyes of yours!" I came up to a nearby bear and scratched its neck, "beary, you understand me, don't you? Rip his balls off if he ever dared to come close to the lake, okay?"

'Rawr!' The bear purred and closed its eyes in delight as I continued scratching its neck.

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As I stepped into the clear blue lake, my body shuddered slightly from the cold. The dawn had barely passed, and the sky was just starting to get brighter. The water, which hadn't got a chance to be properly warmed up enough by the sunlight, prickled my skin.

"Hng..." I frowned a little. The coldness reminded me of my days living inside that truck-kun. I wonder what happened to my place over there? ...Wait, did I really have a place over there?

"Haa... Let's just worry about getting stronger first. I can't afford to die in the next raid," I sighed, "and there's no way I can beat Eli like this. I need to think of another way to raise my stats quick."

While bathing, I made sure to keep my psychokinesis active by playing with the water. It was pretty fun and I got to train my stat. Not bad, I'd say.

Satisfied with my bath and training, I finally took a step out of the lake, only to find out that my clothing were all gone, except for my underwear.

"What the hell!?" I panicked and immediately hopped back into the lake, hugging my body.

'Quack!'

"Huh?"

As I turned towards the quacking sound, I spotted two ducks, trotting side by side while carrying a piece of cloth and a towel.

'Quack!'

"What... Is happening?" I stared at them, who were just patiently waiting there while they kept quacking.

"Are those for me?"

'Quack!'

Huh. Weird. Did that freaky old snake prepare this for me? But why? And where did he get this clothing?

I slowly stepped out of the lake, still covering my body with my hands. After I took the towel and dried myself, I put on my underwear and the robe that these duckies brought for me. I named them Bobby 1 and Bobby 2, but they didn't seem to like their names. Should I rename them?

'Quack!' They both ran off somewhere, and after around 5 minutes, I heard a rustling sound came from a nearby bush, and I immediately jumped into my stance.

"Relax. It's only me. The ducks kept quacking at me, so I figured you'd either be dead or done bathing." Luke said as he came out of the bushes with a sigh.

"Ah. It's just you," I eased up, "did you prepare this for me?"

"Yep! I made it myself, just like how I made my own robe. Impressive, right?" He grinned while puffing out his chest.

I caressed the fabric of the white robe he gave me, and I was pretty stunned by the softness of it. Back in my era, this thing would sell for quite a lot.

The design wasn't terrible, either. The v-neck showed a little bit of cleavage, which I didn't really mind if it wasn't for the fact that we were literally in the middle of nowhere surrounded by monsters. It also had a slit on the side of my right thigh, making it easier to move around while keeping the flattering look.

There was one huge problem, though...

"Yeah. It's pretty impressive, I like it, but..." I scratched my cheek and looked away from his eyes.

"What do you mean, but? What's wrong with my fashion sense?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Could you, uh... Could you please put a little more fabric in the back? Like, could you cover my whole back? Haha..." I nervously said while my left hand was busy fiddling with the smooth, silky fabric of the robe.

"Why? You look good like this." He frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I appreciate your compliment, but you know, isn't it bad to show too much skin or something? Haha... I mean, we may get attacked and all, and the forest vegetation will graze our skin... Right?" I chuckled awkwardly.

"Nah, my robe is pretty durable. There's nothing wrong with my fashion sense." He insisted as he stepped closer and grabbed my shoulders.

"Here, try turning around."

"No, wait--!"

"Don't worry, just pretend like you're doing a fashion sho-- what the hell is that?"

I immediately pushed him back and took a few steps away from him. My eyes went wide when I realized that he had seen the state of my back.

"You. Where did you get those scars?"