Chương 82: Classic

"A genius!" the cat repeated, its voice sounding like it was being pulled into one of the implosions. Because it was. I nodded, satisfied.

"I appreciate the honesty. It takes a big cat to admit when he's wrong."

"Are you gonna save me or what?" I tapped my chin. The tree had stopped trying to assault me—it was too occupied with exploding, imploding and being on fire.

"You know what? I think I will." I blinked next to the cat. This time no branch tried to smack me in the face, so I just shot the vines and grabbed him. For good measure I also pumped a couple of rounds into the branch until it broke off. Payback is a bitch. Before I could get pulled into the void I blinked out again and set the cat on the ground. I stared at it, expecting a thank you. None came, so I tilted my head for emphasis. He still didn't say anything, so I cleared my throat.

"Something in your throat?" he asked.

"Cat got your tongue?" I replied. He looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"You're a real comedian, aren't you?" I kicked him a little.

"And you're a real ungrateful piece of work."

"I never asked you to save me." I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? I seem to remember you crying, begging me to save you."

"Hey! There were never no tears! And I didn't beg."

"Yeah, yeah." I looked back at the tree. The explosions intensified, then combined into one big, flashy purple explosion that turned into an implosion. In an instant it was all over, and all that remained was a blackened seed a bit smaller than my fist.

"That what I think it is?" I asked the cat.

"If you think it's a chaos seed, you might be on to something." Looks like I didn't even gain a level from killing that tree. Very lame. Maybe I should just take the chaos seed so I wouldn't be leaving here empty handed. Maybe I could use it to upgrade something? Maybe not, my mother always told me to be careful with chaos magic. Then again, she never explicitly told me to stay away from it either. Maybe it was implied? I wasn't sure, and it wasn't like I had to decide right away.

If I couldn't find a use for it, I was sure Phisto would like to have it. I walked over to it, and grabbed it. I expected it to feel warm to the touch, but it didn't feel like anything special. Didn't look particularly chaossy or anything either.

"I'll hold on to this," I said.

"For safekeeping. In case you get any funny ideas again."

"Whatever," the cat said. Something told me it still hadn't learned its lesson. Oh well, not really my problem. I just wanted the runestone. I scanned the area. All of the explody fruits were gone, which was a shame, because I was sure you could seriously surprise someone with those things. I could already see myself sharing one with Menekrates, pretending it was a peace offering. Then when he took a bite his whole head would explode and implode on itself. Surely that would have gained Perry's seal of approval.

There were still some branches scattered around, and I remembered Kuba told me he usually offered wood or an axe to upgrade his skills. I picked up a couple of relatively small and easy to carry ones—he would probably be grateful for the gift, and he would likely appreciate that we hadn't forgotten him. Sometimes a small gift can go a long way in showing someone they are valued. Since Kuba was part of my team now, and I was trying to be a good leader, it was important to let my people know that I cared about them.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. With that taken care of it was time to move on. I put the bear totem back in my satchel and attached Pavel to my belt, then returned to the cat.

"So where am I taking you?" The cat started down the path that led towards the statue.

"Follow me." When we got to the statue, Kasia and Vasil were waiting for us. Vasil looked me up and down.

"Everything went alright, then?" I flipped my hair nonchalantly.

"Easy peasy, cucumber squeezy." He gestured toward the sticks.

"Did you decide to bring a souvenir?"

"Yes, actually. You know how Kuba loves wood and sticks? I decided to bring him a little souvenir back from our trip. Just a little something to show him that we haven't forgotten about him." He nodded.

"That is very kind of you, Hecate."

"Do you also have something for Skelly and Moryana?" Kasia asked.

"And for Phisto?"

"I do have something for Phisto, actually. As for Skelly and Moryana… I'll figure something out before we get back." Vasil narrowed his eyes at me, and I fluttered my eyes and smiled back. I held out the sticks.

"Vasil, could you maybe carry these inside of you? They are thin enough to fit into your mouth, and I wouldn't want to accidentally break them." He grumbled a bit, but finally agreed and opened his mouth so I could gently place them inside. You'd expect a [Frogbag] to be more excited to be allowed to carry stuff, especially since that was literally all he could do at the moment.

"You done?" the cat asked.

"Yeah, I'm done," I replied.

"Take me to your owner."

"Owner? Owner?!" it huffed.

"I don't have an owner! We have a mutually beneficial arrangement. Nobody owns me."

"Look, cat, I don't really care. I just want that runestone so I can get out of here." It didn't respond to that, instead it started walking down the path. Eventually we got to a small circular cottage near what appeared to be the edge of the village.

"Hop back in the satchel," I told Vasil. He hopped in and I closed it with just a little bit of space left for him to peek out of, then knocked on the door. I heard shuffling from behind it, and after a few moments a haggard old lady opened the door with a big smile on her face.

"How can I—" When she saw the cat she immediately bent down, bones audibly cracking and popping, and scooped him up into a tight hug.

"Oh, Pieruś, I'm so happy you're back safe!" Kasia snorted.

"You named him after pierogi?" The cat looked offended.

"It's a noble food!"

"What's pierogi," I asked.

"You've never had pierogi?" they both asked at the same time. I shrugged.

"First time hearing about it, and it's not like there are many restaurants around where I live."

"Oh my," the lady said.

"Come inside, and I'll give you some. I just got done boiling them, so all I have to do is fry them. It's his favorite food, you know!" She looked us up and down.

"And I'm sure you are here for the Vortex runestone as well." I gave her a nod.

"That's very kind of you. And yes, we are." From the looks of the old lady I expected the inside of the cottage to be a mess, but the inside was surprisingly clean, and everything was neat and cozy. There were some unevenly sized chairs spread around a table, and all the chairs had covers on them that appeared to be knitted by the woman herself. A small altar filled with herbs stood to the side. There was a small hearth, it was warm, and the whole place smelled like onions and boiled meat and cabbage.

"I'm Jagoda," the old lady said.

"What may I call you?"

"I'm Hec—" Kasia elbowed me in the ribs.

"She's Anna, and I'm Kasia." I rubbed at the sore spot.

"Yeah, uh, totally. Anna. That's me. That's what they call me." Jagoda didn't look surprised or suspicious, which I attributed to my smooth recovery. She gestured to the chairs.

"Please, sit down. Can I get you something to drink as well?"

"Yes, please," Kasia said. I nodded in agreement. Jagoda then brought some mugs and grabbed a jug from the floor. She poured in a reddish liquid.

"Rhubarb and honey," she said. I turned to Kasia.

"Rhubarb is a vegetable," she said as if she could read my mind. Interesting. I was getting a real taste of Silesian culture today. I lifted my mask a bit and took a sip of the rhubarb drink. I expected it to taste like carrots or something, but it wasn't anything like that. It was sweet, but had a tangy kick to it. It was quite refreshing, actually.

"Doesn't taste like a vegetable at all!" I said.

"That's rhubarb for you," Jagoda said with a smile.

"Now let me fry up some pierogi. I have some with meat and some with mushrooms and sauerkraut."

"Uh…." I said.

"Fermented cabbage," Kasia helpfully commented.

"Right. Fermented cabbage," I repeated, trying to sound like a person who ate it every day.

"Classic. Big fan of it." Jagoda chuckled as she started frying up what looked like fat, little, half moon shaped, shiny dough things.

"You're a funny one, Anna""Yeah. Pieruś also said he enjoyed my jokes." Jagoda slowly turned around.

"Did he now?"