From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals

A hint of sadness flickered in her eyes. "Fine, I won\'t use you as a pillow if I see you passed out again."

"That\'s not what I mean--" Ty started, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Todd, stretching and yawning, claimed he had the strangest dream.

Nana, turning her attention to Todd, corrected him, "That wasn\'t a dream. You nearly got killed by some weird shadow before your \'fatass\' landed on top of it."

As Ty opened the door, their bickering continued unabated. He was greeted by the short innkeeper in her customary attire of long clothes with pink accents. "Good morning, young man," she greeted him cheerily.

"I just wanted to stop by and express my gratitude again," she continued in her elderly voice,

prompting Ty to inquire, "I heard you sustained a head injury. Are you healing up okay?"

Tapping the top of her head, she assured him, "Good as new," and then presented him with something unexpected--a flame crystal.

She retrieved a diamond-shaped crystal with a red core from her pocket and handed it to Ty, who looked at it with curiosity.

"This is for you," she said. "In the event you acquire a weapon, this can be used to enhance its element, particularly if it\'s fire."

"I can\'t offer you much else, but seeing you wield fire made me think this would suit you well," the old lady explained, handing over the flame crystal. "Also, here\'s a hairpin for the young lady and a bottle of fine whisky for the Ogre--he mentioned he enjoyed it greatly during our daytime drinking."

"Have a safe journey," she said with a bow before retreating down the hall.

The remainder of the morning proceeded without note.

Ty and his companions packed and set out along the main road, using the map Madison had given them to guide their way.

Roughly two hours into their journey, they encountered a small river that spanned a mile or so across. On its far side lay more land, beckoning them forward.

Ty, examining the map closely, noted, "That must be the eastern coast. If we follow this river downstream, we should reach the bridge that leads to the capital. It seems like the simplest route to avoid trouble."

Nana, visibly annoyed, retorted, "I\'d much prefer a fight over all this walking.

My feet are killing me." Her complaint was abruptly interrupted as the water before them began to ripple ominously.

Without warning, a bullet of water shot from the edge of the river.

Reacting swiftly, Ty yanked Nana out of harm\'s way just as the aquatic projectile whizzed by, narrowly missing her face.

It struck a withered tree nearby, piercing through the trunk with a blinding speed and leaving a clear hole where it had passed.

A voice, slick and slithering, emerged from the scaly creature in the water. "Free food?" it mocked, noticing their lack of weapons.

With fin-like hands, the creature conjured a massive array of floating water droplets, which it then hurled toward Nana in a deadly spray.

Nana, with a panicked but quick response, raised her shimmering red hand and snapped her fingers in the direction of the creature.

The eight water bullets that had been careening towards her exploded in unison, mere inches from making contact.

The creature, visibly shaken by Nana\'s defense, demanded incredulously, "Your hand is your weapon?!"

Nana, disregarding the creature\'s astonishment, turned to Ty and asked, "What did the notes we have; say about creatures eating others?"

After a moment of contemplation, Ty recalled the information, "If I remember correctly, every creature is essentially like livestock. The towns may maintain a record book detailing creatures like this one, along with their flavor profiles."

The aquatic creature, now seething with fury, declared, "You are the prey, not I!" It then summoned a barrage of water bullets, scattering them in all directions. It was then that Todd interjected confidently, "I\'ll handle the fish."

Unfazed, Todd stepped in front of the barrage, the water bullets harmlessly bouncing off his chest and falling to the ground. With a mocking tone, he addressed the sea creature, "Had I known you were offering a massage, I would have been more gracious."

The creature\'s bravado faltered, revealing a hint of fear as it spat out a curse at Todd, "What\'s an ogre doing this far out anyway?"

Without hesitation, it lunged, its clawed fin aimed to slash. Todd\'s cheek bore a crimson streak as he caught the creature\'s strike.

"Now, my turn," Todd said, his voice calm.

He gently placed his palm against the creature\'s head.

A tremor passed through the creature\'s body; then suddenly, it expelled blood from its mouth and collapsed onto the sandy beach, lifeless.

From the water\'s edge, several of its kin were observed before swiftly disappearing into the depths.

Ty chuckled, "Looks like you gave its friends a good scare."

Nana, with a spark of enthusiasm, piped up, "Well, can we eat it?" But her excitement quickly dissipated as, within moments, the creature started to emit a foul odor. She clamped a hand over her mouth, recoiling. "You know what? I\'ll just stick with the snacks we brought."

"We don\'t really have the proper equipment to skin and fillet it anyway," Ty added logically. "Better to leave it for the wolves that\'ll show up eventually."

With nods of agreement, they prepared to continue on their journey. Ty sighed, "Seems like we can\'t catch a break without ending up in a skirmish, can we?"

(Meanwhile, Back at the Town)

General Mattison paused, the sheen of his freshly polished armor catching the light.

He turned his attention to the crow that had alighted on the windowsill, a letter secured by a seal of red wax glowing faintly in its beak.

As he reached out and touched the seal, the luminescence dimmed and the wax seal cracked open, allowing him to unfurl the parchment and reveal the meticulously penned message within.

The General\'s brow furrowed as he read the elegant script, absorbing the words of Lady Amaris. A momentary look of concern crossed his features before his face settled back into its usual stoic expression.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dear General Mattison,

This is Lady Amaris of the third house,

I am sorry to inform you that we are not missing any family members and have not heard of anyone by the name of Nanako.

I do apologize if this is a waste of your time or if you have been misled.

We will, however, keep an eye out for anyone under that name. If indeed a child is in need, please see to it that she is cared for.

With best regards, Lady Amaris"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After reading the letter, he placed it gently on his desk, the gears of strategy already turning in his mind. He would have to investigate this matter more thoroughly;

General Mattison, rolling back up the letter, shocked and confused, began to ponder what could be going on, stating I shouldn\'t have let them leave until verifying their info. At least I know where they are going.

Wiping his armor a few more times before donning it and heading out of the room, slamming the door shut.

-Chapter end-

Thank you for reading this chapter, some minor issues with duplications due to editing. I needed to delete a lot of stuff and rearrange this chapter, but WebNovel makes it hard to edit after publishment. If you find any duplications past this point, let me know, and I will get them cleaned up and, in return, give a free chapter.

We all try our best even when we fall. But how we get up is equally as important.