Nine Tales [BL]

2.4

The two stared at the pitiful pile, one blank-faced puppet and the other with his face scrunched up. The boy was holding his stomach tightly as he stared at three berries, a handful of mushrooms and three-inch dead caterpillar.

Renshu turned away, silently thankful for his wooden body. "Enjoy, kid."

Eli made a face but grabbed a berry and nibbled at it slowly, trying to make it last. Walking towards the edge of the old mine, Renshu called out, "Going to check the perimeter." Before jumping down.

The mine was a lucky find of theirs, the back collapsed and the opening was hidden by vegetation. Luckily, the boy could conjure fire and puppets apparently don't need light to see since they weren't going to risk any possibility of the Witcher finding them by firelight.

Weaving around the vegetation without touching it to keep it as natural and undisturbed as possible, Renshu called into his mind, "System, can you tell me if there are any humans nearby?"

[I can look into the world-building....Yes, Host. A mile out there seems to be a group of bandits. They overtook a caravan recently and are trying to take it back to there base.]

"Is the base near?"

[No Host, it's a couple days away.]

"Good. Lead the way."

After projecting a map into Renshu's mind, Rein Nett hesitantly asked, [....Host, why are you heading towards the bandits?]

"The kid is going to die without food. And since I can't hunt as a puppet and the kid almost had a heart attack after he accidentally hit a squirrel with a pebble during spell practice, we are going to have to steal." Renshu answered, climbing over a fallen tree.

[But Host, Eli isn't part of the Task. You don't need to keep him alive.]

Renshu jumped off the log and paused. He continued walking, strides a bit longer. "The kid isn't human."

[...huh?]

"I hate humans, would love to see them all burn alive. Would kill them all if I could." The very thought would make him smile widely if he had the mouth to. "But I am not a monster."

[....] Could have fooled me.

"I don't hurt creatures that don't get in my way or annoy me. Especially not children."

[...Host, you bullied a squirrel yesterday just to see if you could ride it.]

"And now we know I need two squirrels for them to be able to carry me. Besides, look at these bite marks! Look at them!Puppets don't heal, System. These are forever!"

[Survive for ten years and maybe they will disappear once you turn back to a human.]

Renshu sighed. "Ten years. It's always such a long time in these worlds."

[You can do it, Host! ^^]

Renshu gave a halfhearted fist pump before focusing back on the task at hand.

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Little Ditto: Okay, so sneaked in a very small update. Not much happened yet but oh boy, it will. 

Also, would like your input. Updates are going to be slow for while but I will keep trying to update. Question is, do you like these mini-updates (which will come more frequent) or would you like longer updates(but the updates will be more farther apart)? I read the comments so if you respond, I'll know. 

Also, also! Wanted to give a shout out to : @Pardis_M , @wisteriacharacter , @Nekoyay , @YJCKOI , @Friendly_Hedgy , @Ashajama1602 , @Ko_Chi, @MamaGreek

Thank you for your comments. They make my day. If I didn't get everyone, I'm sorry. I only had so much time to write this. 

Well, til next time!