I'm not sure how long I slept, but I know it must have been less than 8 hours. My body was still a little tired, so I think maybe 5 or 6 hours of restless sleep.
Seeing the faces of my mother, my father, my older sister, my friends, and the rest of the people I care about twisted in pain, being attacked by goblins, wolves, orcs, skeletons, giant animals, and more.
I only woke up thanks to the not-so-gracious-or-pleasant alarm clock named Mari, who lovingly threw the magical equivalent of a bucket of water over me.
"Buef, cough, cough. OW!!!!!, THERE WERE OTHER WAYS TO WAKE ME UP, YOU KNOW!!!!"
I screamed involuntarily, then remembered that screaming in our current situation isn't a good idea.
"There wasn't much I could do. I tried calling you, I tried shaking you, I even tried touching your foot, but nothing. So I had to be more drastic."
Looking down, I could see that she'd actually pulled the blanket off my foot. It's a funny thing about our family: everyone hates it when someone touches our feet, even the babies.
"Aaaahhhhh~, okay, and why did you wake me up? You made breakfast, not that I need much right now."
I said as I stretched and moved my body slightly. I hadn't noticed during the watch, but my body was really tired; now after sleeping, I could feel it.
"No, and I don't even need to eat anymore. As long as I have a Mana source nearby, I can survive without eating anything. Although I still can if I want to."
"Mana source?"
That's a new one. As far as I know, mana sources are places with high concentrations of mana that usually solidify into crystals and become important commodities the moment they're found. At least in the stories and games I've seen.
"No, it's not a Mana Source in that sense. I meant a plant, place, or object that can absorb and filter mana from the atmosphere and redistribute it into the air, similar to photosynthesis."
Hmm-hmm
"Instead of taking CO2 and transforming it into O2, it takes raw Mana from the atmosphere and transforms it into a more malleable mana that other living beings can use."
"Hmm-hmm. Got it. Got it. Okay. Very interesting. I just don't understand two things."
"Which ones?"
"First: how do you know all this? And second: where would this Mana source be that looks more like another version of a mystical air humidifier?"
No one would blame me for the disdain and incredulity in my voice after hearing something like that, right? Since yesterday, I've seen, experienced, and done a lot of strange things; killing and drinking goblin blood wasn't even close.
I got a system like the video game system that every living thing seems to have now, fought a flock of magical chickens, and subjugated them to become my... servants? I stayed up (almost) the whole night, occasionally fighting zombies, shadow wolves, more goblins, and the occasional giant animal (like the rat Mari gave me as a snack, but they appeared so rarely that I didn't even feel the need to mention them before).
But does my sister explain anything like that?
It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it.
"I found out about it by asking."
"Who?"
"The plants, huh?"
.....
Like…
I know she has an ability that essentially turns plants into radars. And considering how things are, her talking to plants and "understanding what they're saying" isn't necessarily that crazy (I can't believe I even said that).
But the central question remains: how could the plants know this?
"I don't know, they just know, and so far what they've said hasn't been wrong. It seems like some inherently symbiotic relationship or something."
"Fairies fiercely protect plants and nature because they help produce mana, which in turn sustains them. Thus, they make two-way pacts, to help when the other is in danger or needs some kind of assistance."
.....
.....
Is it weird that I thought this actually made a lot of sense?
Like, it's the same logic used by elves in several books, like Eragon, if I'm not mistaken. The plants knowing this is still weird to me, but it's just another one on the list, and at this point? There's no point in continuing to count.
"Okay, and could this source be translated as all the plants in this house? Including Pomo, the grass in the garden, and the succulents in your room?"
"Well... Yes and no, they do this filtering, and I can live off of them. But like I said, I can also continue eating, and the more mana something I eat has, the less I'll be willing to eat next time. That way, I can focus on sleeping and increasing my level."
Wonderful, just what she needed, another reason to do nothing but sleep. But wait a minute.
"What does that have to do with you eating something with a lot of mana in this matter? There's nothing with a lot of mana around here besides the chickens, and we agreed to leave them alone as long as they help us."
"Yes, but who said they were the only sources of mana here? I never said that."
Okay, this is getting annoying.
"And..."
I said through gritted teeth, letting her see that this conversation was already getting on my nerves. The fact that she woke me up with a bucket of water in 13-degree Celsius certainly didn't help.
"Okay, okay, just to finish the subject, Pomo is a major source of Mana. Besides being able to produce fruits imbued with mana, Mom's pepper plant was also mutated by mana, and now it's producing much hotter peppers."
....
Mom's pepper plant?
But I've passed by it twice and haven't seen anything unusual; it's still the same as always. It's not moving like the Pomo or having a different color like the chickens, Bete, Lumi, or Nawa.
"Come on, you of all people should know that many magical plants and things like that camouflage themselves to avoid being preyed upon in your stories. This even happens in the real world, but now this camouflage has gone to the next level with things like this."
That actually makes sense.
"Okay, okay, so what do we do now? Mom and Dad already voted and the car is fixed, right? So I'll just ask for some Impeto blood and we'll go get our sister, okay?"
At once, the playful, goofy air she'd had while explaining disappeared and became more serious. Even Lumi and Nawa had serious expressions.
"That's what I came to talk to you about. Mom and Dad should have been back at 5 a.m. But the chickens said you switched shifts with them at 7 a.m., and you said you didn't see anything unusual, right?"
I don't like where this conversation is going.
"Are you saying Mom and Dad—"
"No. They're definitely alive."
"Why are you so sure?"
"One of Mother's abilities, [existence link], lets me sense the life energy of whoever's listed in that link. In practice, it would be like sharing life in games. You know, when a teammate's HP drops to a certain number and you use an ability to transfer their damage to you, giving them time to heal?. The link basically does that. Since I'm not being drained of HP, they're still alive."
"Not to be pessimistic, but what if they took such massive damage that the link couldn't even tank them?"
"Then it would have been dispelled, but it's still active, so yes, they're fine, you can rest assured."
Phew, one less worry finally.
"Besides, the link also lets you know if someone listed in the link is okay or not, giving you a general sense of their condition."
"Okay, so what does this link tell you about how they are?"
"That they're fine, but—"
"Stop the damn suspense and just say it!"
"They're hurt. Not badly, but they're hurt. And by what they measured on the walkie-talkie before the battery ran out, they are trapped."
If I was still mad at her for waking me up like that, or if I had any complaints about my body being stiff or something, any of those complaints disappeared instantly.