"We have to help this poor old man," Lucia declared, her eyes shining with compassion.
Hiro nodded. "He should be enjoying his last years of life. Not fighting to protect his house."
The lumberjack was already walking away, waving his hand. "Good luck with that. I've got a big day of chopping ahead of me."
Hiro observed the beast lazily nibbling on a corner of the house.
She comes at the perfect time.
It would allow him to test Assimilation immediately.
The beast chewed calmly, completely ignoring the old man who continued to hit it with his stick.
"Get out! Get out of there!"
Wham. Wham.
The blows bounced off pathetically.
Hiro silently drew his sword.
Suddenly, the beast felt pain.
Then another.
Then another still.
In less than ten seconds, Hiro had killed it.
The massive creature collapsed to the ground with a dull boom, its legs folding under it.
Hiro turned to the old man, sheathing his sword. "You don't have to worry about your house anymore. It won't get eaten ever again."
[ASSIMILATION SUCCESSFUL]
[Trait Acquired: Powerful Jaw]
[The trait will be applied during the player's sleep]
Hiro smiled inwardly.
Perfect.
"Hey." Lena pointed at the old man. "He looks weird."
Cassian had noticed it too.
The old man, instead of being happy, displayed a completely devastated expression.
His shoulders slumped. His eyes filled with tears.
"This is..." His voice trembled. "This is real?"
He shook his head violently. "No. No, this must be a nightmare."
Hiro frowned. "Are you okay?"
The old man slowly descended from his house, approaching the beast's body.
He knelt beside it, placing a trembling hand on its fur.
"Pipou," he murmured. "My little Pipou..."
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Cassian blinked. Pipou?
"I raised him since he was little," the old man continued, his voice breaking. "His mother had abandoned him. I found him, all alone, starving. I fed him. I protected him."
He gently stroked the dead beast's head. "At a certain point, when Pipou was still a child, he started eating the house." A sad laugh. "Unfortunately, I never managed to get him to stop that bad habit."
Silence.
A heavy, crushing silence.
Hiro felt something twist in his stomach.
The situation is NOT as I had planned.
"I..." He stepped back. "I have to go. I have things to do."
He turned abruptly, walking quickly.
The girls followed him, confused but cooperative.
Desperately wanting to be far from the old man.
"Wait!"
The old man began walking behind the group.
"Pipou was my treasure," he said in a broken voice. "Problematic, sure, but I loved him."
The group quickened their pace slightly.
The old man did too.
"There were those moments," he continued, "when Pipou was my only company. When I was sick. When no one came to see me. He always stayed by my side."
The group quickened again.
The old man accelerated in perfect synchronization.
"He warmed me during cold nights. He listened to me talk for hours without ever complaining."
"We should run," Lena murmured.
"Good idea," Hiro approved.
They started running.
The old man did too.
Now, he spoke more softly. The group couldn't hear him clearly anymore, but they knew he was still talking about Pipou.
Hiro already regretted killing Pipou.
Cassian inwardly insulted Hiro with impressive creativity.
You idiot who helps the wrong person.
They were running at full speed now.
Lena looked back.
And nearly tripped in surprise.
The old man was right behind them.
Just a few meters away.
"How is that even possible?!" she panicked.
"Just run!" Lucia shouted.
"Let me get in front!"
Lena accelerated suddenly, pulling slightly ahead of the group.
Everyone did the same, finding energy reserves they didn't know they had.
Hiro looked back.
The old man was catching up.
Gradually. But surely.
This isn't possible. How is he running so fast?!
The old man was thinking about avenging Pipou.
His legs moved automatically, driven by rage and grief.
Then he felt something.
His strength was leaving him.
Quickly. Like water flowing from a punctured bucket.
He understood immediately.
I'm dying.
Of old age. Here. Now.
No. No, I can't die now. Not before...
"Pipou," he murmured. "Give me the strength. Just enough. To avenge you."
He reached out his arm.
His fingers were a hair's breadth from Cassian.
So close. So close.
Then he collapsed.
His body rolled on the ground, finally coming to a stop after a few meters.
The group noticed and stopped abruptly.
"He... " Lena turned around, panting. "He stopped?"
They waited a few seconds.
No movement.
"What happened?" Lucia asked, frowning.
They approached cautiously.
The old man lay on the ground, motionless.
Lucia knelt beside him, placing two fingers on his neck.
A few seconds passed.
"He's dead."
"What?!" Lena's eyes widened.
"Dead?!" Hiro repeated, incredulous. "But we didn't even attack him!"
Cassian stared at the body. "He just... died on his own?"
General panic.
"We didn't do anything!" Lena insisted. "Nothing! He collapsed on his own!"
"That's true," Lucia approved quickly. "We were just running. It's not our fault if he ran until he died of exhaustion."
"Exactly," Hiro said, nodding frantically. "We have nothing to do with his death."
They all looked at each other, desperately seeking reassurance from one another.
"What do we do now?" Lucia finally asked. "We can't just leave his body here."
"We could take him back to the village?" Lena suggested.
"No," Lucia said immediately. "There's too much chance the villagers will take us for murderers."
She paused. "Plus, Pipou is dead. It's like we killed the old man. People will think Pipou wanted to defend his master and we killed him too."
"That's probably how they'll interpret the situation," Hiro approved.
"You're overthinking it," Cassian said flatly. "The best would be to just take the body back to the village. Explain what happened."
Hiro shook his head. "Too risky."
He thought for a moment. "We bury him."
"What?"
"We bury him here," he repeated. "To take no risks."
Lena and Lucia exchanged a glance.
Then nodded slowly.
"Okay."
Hiro plunged his hand into the storage ring.
Four shovels materialized.
Cassian stared at them. "Why are there shovels in there?"
"I..." Hiro frowned. "I don't even remember why myself."
They each took a shovel.
They moved the body a little further into the woods, finding a relatively flat spot.
Then began digging.
Schhh. Schhh. Schhh.
The sound of turned earth echoed in the silence of the forest.
"I feel like," Cassian said while digging, "we're trying to hide a crime we really committed."
She paused. "This situation is ridiculous."
Lena, Lucia, and Hiro burst into laughter.
A nervous, almost hysterical laughter.
"It's so true," Lena realized between laughs.
"We look exactly like criminals," Lucia added, wiping her eyes.
"Technically," Hiro said, "we are criminals. We killed Pipou."
"Pipou wasn't human," Lena protested.
"But the old man loved him like a son."
New silence.
They continued digging.
An hour later, the hole was ready.
They gently placed the old man's body inside.
Then began covering it with earth.
"Should we do the same for Pipou?" Hiro suddenly asked.
"No."
The three girls answered in perfect synchronization.
"It would take too long," Lena added.
"Way too long," Lucia approved.
"And he's huge," Cassian said. "We'd be digging for hours."
Hiro sighed. "Sorry. It's my fault. I never should have acted without thinking and killed Pipou."
"No one could have known," Lucia said softly. "You don't have to blame yourself."
Once the grave was filled, Hiro looked around.
"We should camouflage the surroundings better," he suggested. "So that at first glance, no one notices the earth has been turned here."
He started picking up branches.
Cassian stared at him in disbelief. "Hiro. Stop."
"What?"
"We really look like we're trying to cover up our crimes."
Hiro looked at the branches in his hands.
Then dropped them.
He laughed lightly. "You're right. No point in continuing. We've done enough."
