341. A Trip to the Beach

341. A Trip to the Beach

The plan was to have a double story manor. Something built to look and feel like a house, rather than a base of operations. Jury’s Atelier would function as that said base when time came to preserve the peaceful beauty of the Floor of Amalgamation.Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

After the Frost and Jury’s intimate moment, it became clear that a separate building needed to be made just for themselves. It became their biggest priority for obvious reasons neither of them wished to dabble on.

Firstly, there were no materials to completely soundproof the walls of the house. Various items were dumped from their Dimensional Storages to test which could be used for construction.

Upon experimentation, they quickly found that the feathers of the Listening Bird were quite effective at blocking the transmission of sound. It was ironic, but it fit well with the theme of the Corrupted.

This, however, wasn’t the focus for today. There was a beach at the end of the river, just several kilometers away. If one sat at the top of a tree, they’d be able to see an endless ocean afar, stretching so far that it appeared like a wall. At some point the ocean disappeared over the horizon.

It was west of the house. The same place where the sun would set in the next few hours. Their band marched on through plains, kicking up grass as they foraged for goods along the way. Ber imparted her knowledge of the wild to them, knowing which flowers tasted good, what things could be used for seasoning; it was fun listening to her go off.

Plains turned to sprawling forests where mushrooms grew from the base of trees like warts, and along their bark like platforms. The world here didn’t bear anything too out of the ordinary from Earth’s standards. From oaks to pines, to thick columns that rose a hundred meters, with canopies so thick that it prevented light from reaching the forest floors.

These trees, which were found in Grandis, were called Pillar Wood. They were introduced into Grandis from the Anid region hundreds of years ago by invading Insectids and Anids. The ridged cold of the north made them great for withstanding the common storms which saw shards of ice hail upon the Region like arrows.

“Insectids can’t last in the cold. But Anids? They have that quirk that makes them the top dogs of the north.” Cer explained, poking one of Snap’s legs with her tail. “No one knows how they came to be. What the goals of their masters are up in that stringed hierarchy. Could be world domination for all we know.”

“Ignore her.” Res swiftly interrupted as they climbed the slope of a hill. “Anids don’t amount to anything too big. But they have exceptions to the level 140 limit. Just like the Mycelli. Don’t bother to compare them. It’d just be a contest of what’s worse. Turning into a breeding stock or into a conscious puppet for a mushroom.”

“A mushroom. Heh. It sounds funny, doesn’t it?” Cer smirked, raising a finger. “But it’s one of a hundred thousand fates worse than death.”

“If you ever hear someone climbing a tall tree and ‘sleeping’ at the tip, it’s a good sign to start packing.” Ber added, wearing a serious face all of a sudden. “If the news was from a few days ago, then it’s already too late.”

“For us? Moons? Beholders? You? We’re at the top of the food chain. A little mushroom isn’t going to do much damage. That’s where you gotta make the distinction, Frost. Can it be malice if they’re just trying to survive?”

Cer uttered something dangerous. The answer to this came to Frost immediately like a gut reaction.

“Malice or not doesn’t change the fact that what they’re doing directly harms us. The Ateliers are the same. Even if they have good intentions, that doesn’t excuse them from their wrongs.” It didn’t change Frost’s mood or anything. In fact, she still wore her expectant smile. “I’m not exempted either. ‘Just trying to survive’... I have a feeling the Beholders are going to pull that excuse on me too. The scary thing is – that excuse isn’t something I can dismiss so easily.”

“Beholders require Nex. There must be a better way.” Jury echoed her sentiments.

“Ex – act – ly. Buuut. Sorry, I get you Frost. I just wanted to see how you’d respond. Gotta test you now before your big debut.” Cer mischievously smirked, moving to the front to lead the pack.

She still didn’t put on her Receptionist suit. The white, buttoned uniform she now wore actually fit her much better than the suit. Frost then took notice of her tail as she answered:

“I see... If we killed Marduk, then that’d make Scarlet Logic a Fallen Atelier, huh.” Frost said.

“They’re completely different right now. An Atelier pit against the Nexus ought to be called something else.” Res said, right before slipping a long, exhausted sigh.

“Res?”

“Are you ok?”

“Is something bothering you?”

“There is an 85% likelihood that you are annoyed.”

“Bzzzt?”

Voices called out to her as they reached the top of the hill. There, as they stared out that the glistening ocean, Res brought a hand to a certain red hairclip.

“We’re here to enjoy ourselves. I was waiting for you all to realize that, but you kept on going on about the Ateliers. Just for once, I want to drop this exterior of mine and enjoy the water. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the beach...”

“Awww~!”

“I’m sorry~!”

“C’mere Sis~!”

“Reeeeees~!”

“It’s ok!”

“You’re right Res. Let’s enjoy ourselves.” Frost was the last to speak, and the last to pat her head as Res futilely tried to hide her glee.

Out of all the triplets, she was the sweetest and most receptive to being pampered.

Finally, after an hour of trekking, they had finally reached the beach.

And here, Frost would finally show more skin than she was used to.